SmartMEDs

SmartMEDs

YEAR

2022 Fall

TEAMMATES

Chieh-Hsi Lin | Liwen Wu | Ziyan Zhou

MY ROLE

UI/UX Design | 3D Modeling | User Research

TOOLS

Figma | Illustrator | Photoshop | After Effect | Rhino

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How can we help patients and caregivers better manage medication and side effects during recovery?

DESIGN OVERVIEW

SmartMEDs proposed a mobile application and a Bluetooth pillbox for medication management and communication for patients and caregivers. Via the product, users are able to complete three main tasks: 1) Search for medicine information, 2) Set reminder for medication adherence, and 3) Document and sharing patient's health condition.

RESEARCH + FINDINGS

The reasearch consists of two parts: Desk Research and Interview. Medical adherence is far from ideal worldwide. According to the WHO, adherence among chronic disease patients in developed countries averages only 50%. Only 80% of new prescriptions are filled in the United States each year, and only 50% of those filled were taken correctly in terms of "timing, dosage, frequency, and duration" (Neiman, 2017).

We conducted six interviews with potential users, three are caregivers of patients with chronic diseases, and the other three are patients who need to take the medication themselves. Each interview lasted around 30 mins, and we asked the participants about their experiences and challenges of taking medicine. Based on our user interviews, we classified users' problems into four aspects:

Challenge No.1


forget about medicine

Forget to take or refill medicine

Challenge No.2


miscommunication between caregiver

Communication difficulties between caregivers or with doctors

Challenge No.3


unclear med info

Unclear information about the medicine and side effects

Challenge No.4


wrong medicine

Taking the wrong medicine

“I set an alarm every time, so it's much better, but sometimes I still forget

"There were a few times when my grandfather asked me and my sister to buy pills for him at night because we forgot to refill the bottle.”

“My time for lunch is not regular so I cannot set an alarm to remind myself. There were several times that I forgot to take my medication at noon."

“When the doctor asked me about my grandfather's medicine, I wasn't able to remember everything."

“My grandfather did complain about the side effects and he was reluctant to take medicine because of that.”

“When I was at my worst, I could not tell what medicine I was taking and could not count how many pills there were.”

“One day my mom accidentally gave her pills to my dad because they had similar packages side by side.”

“It is really common that me and my sister both forgot to give my grandfather his medicines, sometimes we took care of him at different times and didn't communicate well.”

“I did not pay enough attention to the side effects until my dizziness got very serious and I fell over. I wish I could know in advance and communicate with my doctor sooner to avoid it.”

“I have a friend that was cut off from medication by her parents several times when she got better, because they thought she was cured.”

Being aware of the side effects is very important. I was overdosed on medication due to side effect one time... I needed to be hospitalized and change medication.”

PERSONAS

Primary Persona: Sarah Panya [Caregiver]

primary persona

Secondary Persona: Adam Lopez [Patient]

secondary persona

BRAINSTORM

Initial Ideas

idea1

Alarm Applcation + Caldendar Widget

idea2

Smart Pillbox + Digtial Screen

idea3

Mobile Application + Augmented Reality

Final Idea

final idea

Mobile Application + Pyscial Pillbox with AR Interaction

The final proposal of the idea is a mobile application with automatic input, reminder, and tracker, and a bluetooth pillbox with AR checking interaction. Each feature aims to solve one of the problems that we discovered in our research

STORYBOARDS

Storyboard [Caregiver]

caregiver storyboard

Storyboard [Patient]

patient storyboard

USER FLOW CHART

Click on the "See the board" button to see the detailed flow chart

We approached the design by thinking about the user flow. We mapped out the basic user flow of Log-in, Add New Medicine, Set Reminders, Document Symptoms, Search Articles, and Account Set-up. For the final design, we only developed the main user flow of Add New Medication, Set Reminders, and Document Symptoms.

PAPER + LOW-FI PROTOTYPE

paper prototype lowfi prototype

TESTING + FEEDBACK

We conducted one round of Heuristic Evaluation and two rounds of Usability Testing during the design process. The participants of the usability testing are potential users of the design (patients and caregivers). The feedback were mainly about the Home Page, Medicine List Page, and Medicine Info Page.

Home Page

Home Page Wireframe

Iteration 1: Wireframe

Home Page hifi1

Iteration 2: Hi-Fi

Home Page Hifi2

Iteration 3: Hi-Fi

Home Page Testing Result

Medicine List Page

Med List Wireframe

Iteration 1: Wireframe

Med List Wireframe2

Iteration 2: Wireframe

Med List LOFI

Iteration 3: Low-Fi

Med List HIFI

Iteration 4: Hi-Fi

Med List Usability Testing Result

Medicine Info Page

Med Info Wireframe

Iteration 1: Wireframe

Med Info Wireframe2

Iteration 2: Wireframe

Med Info LoFi

Iteration 3: Low-Fi

Med Info HiFi

Iteration 4: Hi-Fi

Med Info Usability Testing Result

HI-FI PROTOTYPE

Scan to Add Medicine

1 easy scan and get all the information and instructions correctly

user cartoon 1
add medicine

Thoughtful Reminders

Remind you of your medicine schedules and protect your privacy

user cartoon 2

Shared Notes

Better caregivers communications

user cartoon 3

Medicine Distribution and Checking

Ensure you take the right medicines out of your pillbox

user cartoon4

SmartMEDs Pillbox

pillbox interaction with phone

Pillbox Interaction with Mobile Devices

small pillbox

Single Pillbox Design