Project Background
Samsung collaborated with Partners Healthcare in the US to work with physicians on testing new ways of tracking and improving the lives of patients with chronic conditions through remote health tracking and goal-setting technologies.
My Role
As a Principal UX Engineer, I was responsible for the experience strategy and design of both the physician's interface and the patient's app. I led the UX work, producing all major deliverables, working alongside a visual designer and a remotely-based junior UX designer focused on the Android app.
Challenge
This ambitious project intended to support patients with a variety of chronic conditions (CHF, Obesity, Diabetes, Hypertension, COPD). By attempting to support so many conditions with different measurements simultaneously, technical challenges increased significantly.
Goals
- —Cloud-based physician monitoring platform with goal, alert and reward capabilities
- —Mobile application for patient data entry and health tracking
- —Condition-specific engine determining appropriate treatment parameters
- —Behavioural change strategies incorporating gamification elements
Plan
We worked with physicians to map conditions to measurements and alerts, and to understand how they currently work with their patients. We interviewed participants remotely to understand how they manage their conditions, which activities they do, and the type of devices they use. We took an agile delivery approach and focused on creating an MVP functional mobile app with a minimum set of features.
Physicians were able to set goals and change alert levels for each patient. The system used surveys to gather regular patient feedback prior to using technology measurements.
Outcome
Despite very high project objectives and many complexities, the team managed to complete the initial stage of both the physician system and the patient's app — proving that this concept is valid and useful for chronic condition tracking, and in promoting behavioural change with patients.