What is it about?
Passionate about solving healthcare operation challenges, I embarked on this solo passion project to try and address a problem that I faced during my previous employment in aged care, that is, inefficient medication management in community care setting.
Product is designed for use in a day care centre for elderly with varied care needs, ranging from those who are independent with minimal care needs to those who are wheel-chair bound and requires assistance with activities of daily living (ADL).
Its clientele also include person with dementia (PWD).
In addition to providing physical, social and cognitive activities, assisting toileting needs, the care team also provides medication administration service to clients who need to take medication while at the centre.
Platform:
Mobile
Timeline:
Jul/Aug 2021 | 6 Weeks
Tools:
Figma | Whimsical | Google Sheets
My Role:
User Research | Ideation | UI Design | Content Design | Wireframing | Prototyping | Usability Test
What is the goal?
To enable safe management of medication administration in senior care centres
Who are the stakeholders?
Care Team
*In use of widely available and familiar technology applications, such as email software, web browser or text messaging applications
Administrative Team
*In use of widely available and familiar technology applications, such as email software, web browser or text messaging applications
What are the problems?
Lack of consolidated medication inventory and administration records for ease of access, reporting and audit
Medication-related records are filed physically in individual client files, resulting in
(1) Care staff take more time and effort to reply queries from next-of-kin who request for update on medication in-take status because clients' files are kept in locked cabinets. Care staff have to spend time retrieving/returning physical files to designated safekeeping location.
(2) Centre Manager/Staff Nurse spend more time and effort to conduct safety and quality checks as they have to manually sieve through paper records for information.
#1/4
Lack of a common platform for setting of medication reminders
Care staff use personal mobile phones to set medication reminders.
Problem of forgetting to administer medication arises when care staff go on leave.
#2/4
Lack of a structured medication refill reminder process
Amidst their day-to-day busyness, care staff tend to overlook the need to check inventory stock and/or forget to inform centre administrators of depleting stock.
This can result in client missing medication because medication ran out.
#3/4
Lack of tool to aid reinforcement of '5 Rights of Medication Administration' during medication administration
Risk of medication error increases when multi-tasking to the point of distraction or cutting corners to speed up task contribute to care staff discarding or forgetting their training.
#4/4
The Problem Statement
In senior care centres, staff struggle with the manual recording and management of clients' scheduled medication and the varied medication administration timings.
With a client capacity of up to 60 seniors, staff can be overwhelmed by paper documentation and discharging of care, increasing risk of medication error.
The Design Process
Discover
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Stakeholder Interviews
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Competitive Analysis
Define
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Stakeholder Profiles
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Stakeholder Needs
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Tasks & User Flows
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Problem & Solution Statements
Develop
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Map Features to Needs
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Pattern Library
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Sketches
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Wireframes
Deliver
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Prototype
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Usability Test (1x)
The Design Principle
​Use of conversational style writing to make it easier for users to read through the content and understand what is required of them
Adopt minimal task per screen approach to reduce cognitive overload, in particular to section where data entry is required
Keep it simple
(with stakeholder profiles in mind)
The Solution Statement
We believe by developing a mobile web application that allow staff to record clients' medication needs and to set reminders for scheduled medications, we can make medication administration safer and more accurate.
We will know this to be true when there is a reduction in medication error. E.g. missed dose or administration of wrong medicine
The Solutions
Lack of consolidated medication inventory and administration records for ease of access, reporting and audit
3 key features - ‘Profiles’, ‘Medications’ and ‘Reports’
#1/4
Creation of client database for easy location and retrieval of information
One stop medication inventory and administration record repository for easy access
Overview of medication record
Detailed medication record
Generation of medication intake report for reporting and audit purposes
Lack of a common platform for setting of medication reminders
‘Medication reminder’ feature
#2/4
Conversational
style writing
Minimal task
per screen
approach
Medication Reminder Alert
#3/4
Lack of a structured medication refill reminder process
‘Medication refill reminder’ feature
Medication Refill Alert
Lack of tool to aid reinforcement of '5 Rights of Medication Administration' during medication administration
‘5 Rights of Medication Administration’ checklist embedded in medication administration process
#4/4
