MediGo Sleep
A start-up company looking to improve patients' access to affordable healthcare products and services without the need to book and travel to receive services in
other locations, while guaranteeing top-level service.
The Project Objective
Develop a customer-facing online platform that will allow Patients / GPs / Medical equipment companies
to easily interface with the MediGo Sleep Clinics.
01.
PLANNING & RESEARCH
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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Project Scope
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Defined business needs
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Defined user needs Research, team, project, time planning
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Problem Statement
In team
There were a lot of agendas / discussions to begin with the project as our client was still unsure about where their business should be heading to.
We spent a couple of days understanding the business model, who the target users would be and how the business could assist them in which way by considering all the factors in humans, services and the environment.
My role
We started our initial research by studying the healthcare industry based on the competitors the client provided for us.
I was responsible to conduct the competitor analysis /industry research to get a deeper understanding and standards of the industry.
I also spent time studying indirect competitors such as medical equipment suppliers / retailers and how they serve on online platforms to attract users who need them the most.
Goal
To build a platform that supports a positive customer experience
Milestone
Build the fundamental of business online platform that support patient's needs
Deliverables
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Digital platform - website / app
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Refined customer journey map & personas
Assumption
Users want quick access to information about the product offering but with personalised care
User Benefits
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Positively impacts daytime sleepiness and quality of life
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Have a better understanding of their current situations
Constrains
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No current online platforms or testing environment
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6 weeks deadline
Assumptions
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Patients find instructions too convoluted without personal support
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Some patients may be used to the condition and not considering as risk
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CPAP machines can be a life-time equipment for elderly who are difficult to be treated
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The patient might not be aware of the consequences of untreated apnea
Hypothesis
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Having a centralised platform will give patients more confidence to stay compliant with managing sleep apnea
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Suggestions to improve patient's lifestyle, activity & habits to minimise the risk in a reoccurrence of sleep apnea after recovery (e.g. daily exercise, quit smoking)
The Problem Statement
"People who experience, or have been diagnosed with, sleep apnea feel worried, overwhelmed and confused about how to manage their condition. Patients want a trusted, reliable, and supportive service that provides researched advice and guidance on managing their healthcare in a holistic manner"
02.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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At least three research techniques (collecting quant and qual data)
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Send a reverse brief to the client and ensure the team and stakeholder are on the same page
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Synthesize all the data we collected and discuss what the possible solutions would be
In team
In the middle of the week, the data analytics & synthesis were kicked off on the affinity map and allocated similarities to understand the user needs and desires.
We decided to go back on the project scope to ensure that the initial problem statement remained the same or needed to be altered.
Research Methods
1 on 1 Interview
Patients & Healthcare professionals
Survey
21 responses received
Competitor Analysis
8 competitors analyzed
Secondary Research
Existing data & case studies
What we discovered from our research
Interview - 5 patients and 3 doctors
Insights:
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Patients are often unaware they have a sleep issue - "Generally, it's hardly ever the case that someone comes in purely with the sleep complaint " - Doctor
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Patients do not understand the seriousness of untreated sleep apnea - " The sleep apnea problem is invisible, so something else takes priority and the sleep study is not done for the next two, three years. " - Doctor
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Awareness and education may lead to early intervention - " Important to self-educate yourself to keep motivated and interested in what you're doing." - Patient
Observations:
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Patients experience some nervousness / anxiety when undertaking the sleep study
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Support in the 1st month of starting treatment may result in higher compliance rates
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Partners are usually the motivating factor behind patients seeking professional help
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Patients generally present with many health issues which tend to take precedence over poor sleep
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The cost of treatment and side effects from using the machine may result in non-compliance
Survey - 28 closed & open-ended questions, 21 responses received / Average age 25-65
Q. What did you do when you first suspected that you may have a sleep disorder?
More than a half of respondents have been to speak to their doctors, although some of them assumed it would go away in time as not considered as a serious risk.
Q. To what extent has your sleep disorder negatively impacted your quality of life in relations to the following?
A majority of respondents answered that their mood, concentration and memory were significantly impacted by sleep disorders, which describes these factors also affect on the relationships with their partner and work performance.
Q. What has been your main frustrations with the way in which you currently treat your sleep apnea?
The cost of treatments and discomfort of sleeping with equipment were the top voted as main frustrations.
Competitor Analysis - 8 direct & indirect competitors analysis conducted
Healthcare providers:
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An instant approach to the medical teams - Having healthcare professionals /doctors profiles displayed on the websites could be a relief for patients and able to trust a provider, as they know who they're dealing with.
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Accessibility - Doctor will provide a 'rapid referral' for patients to see a respiratory or sleep medicine specialist if they can't wait for their routine appointments
Equipment providers:
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Personable approach - A network of out-of-hospital healthcare management solutions designed to help providers deliver more personalized care, measurable results and improved health outcomes.
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After Sales Services - Most equipment providers offer patients the option to connect with a sleep coach during their CPAP therapy. Provide In-home sleep test /study, trial of CPAP machines and maintenance (After Sales Services).
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What customers say - The presence of testimonials & feedback with trusted review (eg. Google Customer Review, Trustpilot, Yelp) could help users to get to know more about a provider before making a decision on purchasing the products /services.
Secondary Research - Explore the problem space and identify important questions in the field of sleep apnea
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An estimated 2.5 million Australians, roughly 10% of the population, suffer from
mild to moderate sleep apnea (Source). -
Research shows that 12 months of CPAP therapy significantly improved nearly all
cognitive tests, mood, alertness and quality of life. Patients with OSA are perceived to
appear more alert, more youthful, and more attractive after adherent use of positive
airway pressure (Source). -
Clinical studies have shown up to 20% of OSA sufferers chose not to start on CPAP, and up to 50%
of CPAP patients have quit using it within one year (Source). -
The main complaints about the treatments reported include (Source):
• Difficulty falling asleep (insomnia)
• Nasal congestion.
• Dry mouth, Feeling claustrophobic, Nosebleeds,
• feeling bloated and skin irritation
• The wrong size or style of CPAP mask
• Trouble getting used to wearing the CPAP mask
• Difficulty tolerating forced air
03.
DEFINITION & IDEATION
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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Identify key insights and HMW statement
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Design Personas and Customer Journeys
In team
My role
In the team discussion, we came up with two types of patients who are happy to commence their treatments after being diagnosed, and those who decided not to pursue or eventually gave up on ongoing treatments.
These 'Complaint' and 'Non-Compliant' patient's journeys needed to be defined with different goals but eventually, encourage them both to kick start the treatments as the final solution.
My role
I had an interview with one of the healthcare professionals who has experienced with sleep apnea patients.
The responses from the interview gave me an opportunity to learn more about patients and have a deep understanding of the process of sleep study as well as treatment journey.
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Brainstorming /ideation session
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Prepare for a mid-way check in with the client (mini presentation)
I worked on the 'Complaint' persona and CJM to define the user paint points and the opportunities to improve their journeys.
The insightful data we collected in the research guided me through during the creation and pointed out what needs to be addressed.
Persona / CJM / Storyboard for Paul - Compliant Patient
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Persona / CJM / Storyboard for Karen - Non-Compliant Patient
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Worst and Possible Idea !
Talked about what worst situations can be and how those ideas could be turned into possible solutions!
WORST
POSSIBLE
Very limited choice of equipment
eg. CPAP, masks
Help patients find similar machine to try out until other becomes available in stock
Talk about money upfront
Talking about financing plan.
Check the available funds from Medicare /private health insurance for treatments and equipment on patient's behalf
MVP
High Value High Effort
High Value Low Effort
How May We ...
"How might we ensure sleep apnea patients feel confident they have all the information they need pre- and post-treatment through the utilization of supportive services?
04.
WIREFRAMING
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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Card sorting
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Structure IA and User flow
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Wireframing
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Start a skeleton pack for the project progress and outcomes
In team
According to the client's responses, they were aiming to consolidate the online platform in a 'Patient-centric' way. However, the integration with healthcare professionals and equipment providers was also subjected in order to design the desktop platform that allows patients to communicate with all stakeholders.
As the client was a start-up business, there was no online platform built, and only the basic brand guideline was available for us such as the brand's logo and color pallet, Although, the situation motivated us to input our effort to be the first website designer for our client!
My role
I was responsible for building the structure of IA and Non-Compliant User flow which helped me get a bigger vision of the website's functionality, clearly identified touch points /action points and how users could find their way to achieve goals.
I learned the importance of designing the wireframes. The more time you spend on consolidating the structure of wireframe, less chance you waste your time figuring out which content goes where.
Card Sorting
The website was expected to be a patient-centric platform that provides the information and treatment /services most patients would look for online.
In order to achieve an intuitive and informative platform, card sorting was significant step to help us determine the allocation of contents.
Desktop IA
Started with allocating each category & topic under the main/sub-menu.
I always enjoy the process of IA and User Flow as this is where the fundamental of platform begins to appear and it helps me tidy up my head!
Compliant user
User Flow
Two user flows, two different goals!
We decided to create the flows for each persona - Paul and Karen.
Complaint / Paul
Paul is about to start a treatment and in the process of choosing right machine
Non-Complaint / Karen
Karen is looking for affordable payment options and information about the SA treatments that convince her to start a treatment
Non-Compliant user
Wireframe
A patient-centric platform that allows patients to communicate with all stakeholders such as doctors, sleep coaches and medical equipment providers. In order to effectively manage the patient's treatment progress, dashboard plays an important role to assist their journey.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
05.
PROTOTYPING & USER TESTING
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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High-fidelity prototype
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User Testing Script
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Iterations
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Finalize the skeleton pack
In team
We all put our hands down on Figma and worked on the prototypes. When it comes to the team collaboration, we ensured that all the pages are consistent in term of color, font size, imagery, interaction buttons and frame grid.
My role
I worked on one of the important pages for non-compliant users; Equipment / Trials, Sleep assessment where users will find critical information about CPAP, APAP and Bi-level machines and what options they have.
User Testing
We reached out to 6 patients, patient's partner and UX professionals to conduct our user testing on the prototypes.
Testing tasks and goals
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Test discoverability, layout and content of the "Treatment" and "Lifestyle" page
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Determine value-add of an online patient community, a sleep quiz
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Test efficiency of onboarding and booking process
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Flow and layout of the "Support" and "Location"
User Testing Outcomes
Overall look and feel
6/6 liked the colours, use of imagery to support text and layouts
Sleep quiz and Sleep study
6/6 liked the inclusion of sleep quiz, although 2/6 wanted more direction on next steps after receiving results
Patient portal
3/6 would like to see further description of stats displayed. Also, more utility could be built into the "Treatment Progress" (eg. Reminder of CPAP maintenance)
Imagery
3/6 liked the presentation of diverse age groups /genders and found it motivating by positive images. Also, it can be the realization that sleep apnea isn't just for elderly people
Equipment and Trial
2/6 wanted to see the "Lifestyle" changes before CPAP Machine
- Because patients prefer not to go on CPAP /APAP therapy if they can make lifestyle improvements
Community
6/6 thought it was a nice inclusion that would make the website different to others
- Patients would appreciate real voice exchanges between new and existing patients of sleep apnea!
06.
REFINE, COLLATE & PRESENT!
WEEKLY DELIVERABLES
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Finalize the skeleton pack for the presentation
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Last iterations on the prototypes
In team
We made 20+ changes on the prototypes based on the outcome we received from the user testing sessions.
Despite the amount of time that allowed us, we were proud that we finally came into the final week and achieved to what we're expected to deliver to our clients!
My role
I spent a time to work on the final presentation slides to prepare for the last client meeting and ensured that each slide contained insightful and meaningful information throughout the project.
Feature Recommendations
EDUCATION
Self-education about the dangers and untreated sleep apnea may improve compliance rates
DEVELOPMENT
Mobile application linked to the patient portal
Integrate financing options on dashboard
GP & Sleep Physician dashboard integration
ALERTS
Notifications via email and/or SMS when CPAP machine is due for maintenance
OTHER
Having a partner session to assist with monitoring and treatment
Final Prototype !
Challenges
The biggest challenge of the project was to build the entire website from scratch that integrates with all stakeholders such as patients, doctors /sleep physicians and equipment providers.
To create an informative and intuitive patient-centric platform, we ensured to define the fundamental components of the user needs to support their treatment journeys.
It was probably the toughest 6 weeks we have had throughout the course, however I'm sure that we now feel more confident understanding the human-centered design process and how it helps business to grow when users are put at heat.
Next step
A great take away from this project was that diverse age groups are subjected as audiences and creating the platform for them required a lot of considerations in terms of accessibility and usability.
In addition, the initial research played an important role in order to define the user pain points and frustrations in digital vs real-life experiences.
It's crucial for designers to obtain a clear vision of the roles of digital platforms and how they can support users in physical experiences by simplifying the process users take to achieve their goals.
