Medsquare: Easier access to personal health data
Cheerfully Solved BY Design: Medsquare mobile app puts all personal medical data in the palm of the hand, giving users the possibility to make processes such as viewing hospital referrals, comments, test results and medications much easier and accessible.
“The main goal is not to complicate the already difficult life of the consumer” — Raymond Loewy
Background
I had a little chat with my friend over the phone:
My friend: I have to call the hospital to make an appointment
Me: What did the GP write on the referral letter actually?
My friend: Hmmm let me check. There is only written that I need an echo for my abdomens…
This conversation gave me the idea to research a possibility of creating an app with all health-related information about a person. The referral was done online and she only received a one-pager with details for making an appointment, but not the comments of her General Practitioner (GP) regarding the reasoning for sending her to a specialist. In the Netherlands, everyone has to visit their GP first when having health issues. If the GP deems necessary, he will refer the patient to the specialist.
It sparked my curiosity and started researching and asking around.
Results: Some GP and hospitals make use of the portal Zorgdomein for making appointments at the hospital.
For the results of tests/scans, some hospitals and specialist laboratories provide an online portal where these results can be viewed.
The main problem here is that you need to know the links and login codes to all these separate portals.
Understanding the problem
The main pain point seemed to be the scattered supply of information. In order to validate this, I conducted interviews.
“I visited the internist recently, I’m taking 6 different medicines, he asked me whether I’m still taking a certain medicine. I don’t remember them by name, you know. I asked him if he was talking about the pink squared ones…”
“Last week, I had a blood test done. You know what’s annoying me, I had to call the GP, wait for 5 minutes on the line, to get my results. With results, I mean hearing “there is nothing to be worried about…”
“I don’t have much health issues, so when I have to log in to see my results again, I have to search for the log in link and password…”
Painpoints to solve:
- Health information is scattered and there is no one place where it can be found
- Too much time wasted on requesting your own data
- Personal data should be more transparent
- Difficulties to remember exact medicine name
Analysis & Synthesis
From the interviews, I created two customer personas and drew their journeys:
Problem Statement
People with health issues or regular doctor visits want to reduce the time spent/wasted on finding/requesting their own health data, because the existence of health data is not clear and scattered by organisation (hospital/lab). For patients, information about their health is important.
The translation of these needs into design decisions means providing a platform, which displays all information needed.
Designing MVP
For the design of the MVP, I wrote down all the features that the app should provide:
• Personal details (including GP details)
• Medication
• Referrals
• Results
Using these features, I made paper wireframes and worked out a first version of the high fidelity screens.
I tested the high fidelity screens with 2 people. The tasks were requesting new medicine and checking the test results of a blood test done in 2020. For the rest, they could look around and tell me what they like and what they would like to improve. The task completion rate was 100%, but along the way they were a bit frustrated with selecting the year. It seemed too small and the feedback I received was mainly related to the visual design, so I redesigned the screens. Also, I realised that I left out the GP visit records and added this to the app as well.
Final Results
Reflection
Looking back at the project, I’m pretty happy about the results. There are some things that could be added, such as language option to cater to the different ethnic groups in our multicultural society.
Regarding the design, I once again understood the usefulness of personas and user journeys in understanding the problem. I also learned that acting fast is important as well. This time, I went from paper sketches to high fidelity wireframes, without the additional step of creating computerised low-fidelity wireframes. Since in the initial phases the usability of the product matters most, I didn’t pay much attention to the visual design. Still, I received some feedback on it, and could act faster on the demands.
