Role
As Senior UX Designer I was responsible for all user experience strategy and designs. I also led the team through the design process including research, personas, journey mapping, prototypes, and user testing.
Skills
Goal
Reduce asthma attacks by creating a single place where patients can manage their asthma.
Problem
Asthma can be a hard condition to nail down and manage. Asthmatic patients don't always know their triggers that cause an attack, medications work for some patients and not others, patients don't always know the external conditions around them, and in order to get any help it can take up to 48 hrs if they message their provider through a portal.
Apps
Patient
Asthma Management Suite was a personalized app for individuals who needed assistance managing their asthma. The app allowed patients to talk to their doctors about their conditions and view patterns in their health for better management.
Provider
On the doctor side they were able to view aggregated data and information in a dashboard to better understand their patients' asthma experience at the appointment.
Specialist
The specialist was able to view aggregated data and information in a dashboard to better understand their patients' asthma experience at any time. They would be notified when a patient was having issues and be able to act between appointments and monitor the patients between visits, because patients need help all the time, not just during a visit.
Process
Research and Market Assessment
In the beginning of the project the team held focus groups to better understand the patients and how they're living their lives with asthma. We also did a market assessment to see what other solutions are available. I watched YouTube videos of patients describing their lives with the condition, and joined asthma forums and Facebook groups to see the questions and trouble people are experiencing when managing their asthma. I personally find this method of research extremely helpful and revealing. Sometimes this method is called a Sales Safari. The team also shadowed and interviewed providers and other members of the care team to get their take on managing asthma.
Personas & Journey Maps
I then created personas and journey maps with the product team to better define the experience, create alignment, and identify opportunities.
Prototypes
We then created one app per user type, a patient, provider, and specialist app. We had been sharing, getting feedback from, and designing with the provider and specialist, so we were able to make sure we were on the right direction with the clinical apps as we went. We also held another focus group with our patients and ran user testing.
Development & Iterations
After some changes based on our testing and patient feedback the app was then released and we began enrolling patients.
Outcome
Patients liked the app and appreciated that everything was in a single place for them to manage their asthma. The clinicians also liked that they had a dashboard to view exacerbations as they happened, and see how patients were doing between visits in order to help them when they weren't in the clinic. Eventually Astra Zeneca took over the project from Geisinger and my part in the project ended.