Design Implications For Going Serverless
Designing a Serverless Health Journey from First Breath to Lifelong Care
When our daughter was born, we discovered something heartbreaking: her medical story didn’t belong to her. It was trapped—in siloed systems, behind bureaucratic walls, lost in translation between hospitals. Moving her care from Nairobi Hospital to Aga Khan felt less like a transfer and more like a hostage negotiation. We asked for records. We got silence. We asked for clarity. We got complexity. That’s when I realized: this isn’t just a healthcare problem. It’s an architecture problem. Today, I’m building the system I wish existed. Not as a critique, but as a covenant: What if your child’s health journey began with a design that served her, not the institution? Welcome to BIRTHRIGHT—a serverless, event-driven ecosystem where every step, from delivery to citizenship, flows with intention.
The Philosophy: Serverless As Stewardship
Most “serverless healthcare” talks focus on cost savings. I focus on continuity of care. When you treat each medical event not as a database entry, but as a sovereign moment—with its own logic, security, and pathway—you don’t just build scalable systems. You build trustworthy ones. When data is trapped, it is a liability. When it flows securely, it is an asset. This architecture doesn't just protect the patient; it protects the institution from the liability of silence.
The Architecture: Step Functions As The Nervous System
At the heart of BIRTHRIGHT is AWS Step Functions—not as a workflow tool, but as the central nervous system of the birth journey. Each medical event triggers a cascade of purposeful, decoupled actions. This Nervous System creates a self-auditing trail that traditional monoliths cannot match. Here’s how it flows.
The Technical Foundation: Where Symmetry Meets Performance
Healthcare is not a static database; it is a series of critical moments—a birth, a diagnosis, a discharge. To mirror this reality, BIRTHRIGHT abandons the rigid monolith for an Event-Driven Architecture. This is not just a storage system; it is a nervous system that reacts, protects, and scales with the patient’s life.
UX In An Event Driven World
When services are sovereign, the UI must become a truthful messenger—not just a pretty shell. This truthfulness brings about transparency that in the long run reduces support tickets and calls just because of the anxiety of the user not knowing what is happening. Imagine a system that gives the user all the information they need when an error happens, together with a preemptive ticket no. they can use in case they still want human interaction? Here’s how architectural decisions reshape layout, messaging, and user confidence.
THE DESIGNER’S CHEAT SHEET FOR DECOUPLED SYSTEMS
- Map UI components to services – Each service gets its own status indicator.
- Write error messages that name names – “The X service failed because Y.”
- Use workflow state to drive UI state – Buttons appear/disappear based on Step Functions.
- Show estimates, not just spinners – “3 minutes until government verification completes.”
- Make consent visible and simple – Real-time prompts, clear options, no jargon.
Summary
A good UI hides complexity. A great UI explains it. In a decoupled world, the interface becomes a translation layer—between system truth and human trust. We’re not just designing screens. We’re designing transparency. We are done building digital filing cabinets. We are building digital nervous systems. A system that doesn't just store data, but stewards it. A system where 'Access' is not a permission setting, but a human right. To the Architects: Build with Intention. To the Designers: Create with Truth. And to my daughter: This isn't just code. It’s your BIRTHRIGHT.
