Medical Assistive UX Case

Communicative System
Between Caregivers and Patients

Through promoting communication between caregivers and patient families,
Create a delightful healthcare experience to improve the life quality of Alzheimer patients

Role

Scope

Duration

Form

Product Designer

Research&Design

3 Months

Wearable Device

Project Overview

Hospitalizations of Alzheimer patients are negatively impacted by the discordance between the pace of families and that of the caregiver
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In China, a huge number of Alzheimer's patients are undergoing hospitalization with care from caregivers. Research shows that the living quality of the patient is limited by the disagreement between family members and caregivers. How can we mitigate the issues between these two sides?  The main objective of this project is to improve patients' care experience through mitigating the issues between families and caregivers.

DesignScope

Forming a service that unifies the discordance emerged in this specific experience
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As a family member of Alzheimer's patient in a late period, I closely observe my grandfather's in ward experience and the caring behavior of his care worker. To steer the overall experience for the patient, the caregiver, and the family into a more friendly and efficient one. I build a communication system through wearable devices which will set up a mutual trust through releasing signals as intention and promote communication to reach an ideal consensus for medical care.

User Research

Through 3 rounds interviews with the families and caregivers of AL patients, I learned the daily routine, conflicts, and workload for a patient's daily life
Furthermore, we gained more insights into why conflicts between caregivers and patients families occurred frequently through forming user journeys on a daily routine.

Families cannot perceive the overall situation of the patients remotely

Through talking with the families of AL patients, I concluded their life situation as Work-Home-(Hospital). They are full with workload and life pressure. It is hard for them to accompany patients all the time.  In this case, the family cannot totally trust the caregiver as they are unfamiliar with them and they cannot pay attention to the ward all the time. If there is any mistake occurs, they will blame the caregiver directly as they cannot find any other factors.
" I  am a primary teacher, my work time is from 7am in the morning to 7pm at night. Everytime when I head to the hospital, my mom already fall asleep and the caregiver was in a rest. I cannot know what happened all day"
"Both me and my brother are busy in work and our kids, that is why we ask a caregiver for help. We pay a higher wage for her is asking for a higher quality work, which means least mistakes as possible"

Caregivers are immersed in high-demand and time-consuming work

Interviewing with the caregivers of AL patients, I found that their workload is beyond my expectation. They not only need to fully care for patients' living but also put the effort into letting patients keep a good mood and healthy intake. When something emergent happened, they are at a loss and the blame from families makes the situation get worse.
" My work is not limited to care for living of the patient, but also for a healthier lifestyle for their living quality"
"Their families do not know how hard and busy when we are working, we are working full time, it is not only what they perceive but a huge amount workload behind their sights"

Case Observation

I deepen my research through a close view on a specific case: my grandfather's hospitalization as an Alzheimer patient

Those unperceived workloads blocks families's understanding on caregiver's daily work

Through a 24-hour observation, I found that the caregiver is under high pressure for both working time and workload. They not only need to be alerted if there is anything bad happened but also need to follow families' idea which may seem unclear (like temperature control high/low)The workload for caregivers are extremely high as they need to care for patients all the time and may not be able to check messages anytime and anywhere

Insight Formation

Caregivers‘ actions are perceived by families and patients
but their intentions are invisible
sometimes, they start with good intentions but actions may not lead to a good result
when the caregiver's action is in sync with families, the result will be positive. But this situation does not happen very often as they do not show inner intentions to each other
etc adjustment on humidity or food intake
Families‘ overall ideas seldom meet with the caregiver's
due to work attributes and lack of communication and understanding
Families‘ in-hospital time is limited
but they usually use this fragment of time to
evaluate caregiver's overall working quality

Ideation on
how might we promote collaboration and communication. between caregivers and patient families

1.0 Build signal system to help them entrust each other with remote distance

when the caregiver is at work, the lightening system will tell families in remote places
Signals for both sides can build a bridge for their confidence and understanding

2.0 Analysis on workload and overall conditions help caregivers gain more respect and understanding

Through visualized and readable analysis on caregiver's work gathered by data on the lighting system, families and caregivers will gain the direct message efficiently
it is easy for families to use the analysis know what work needs to be improved and spend more time

3.0 Promote collaborations through communications

Start by using unclear words to achieve goals.
With more and more talks built, they will form unique clear words
Build visualization system for clear and specific comprehension

4.0 Pave the path to the successful collaboration through diverse trials

Try various methods and Leave a plan B for every task
Create space for creativity and habits formulation
Form meeting habits for reflections&feedbacks

Prototype Process

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