Apple Health

CASE STUDY OVERVIEW

Apple Health is a prime example of how technology is being leveraged to improve healthcare. However, despite its recent advancements, there is still room for improvement.

For this case study, I will share my design thinking approach and proposed solution for bridging the communication gap between patients and healthcare professionals, with a focus on empathy as both a patient and a healthcare professional.

PROBLEM

For a long time, healthcare providers have advocate the use of symptom diary to improve information-gathering during the patient encounter. A symptom diary is a simple, effective, clinical tool to augment the diagnostic and therapeutic process for patients in the outpatient setting.

During my time as a retail pharmacist, I saw patients struggle to describe the severity, location, and frequency of their symptoms accurately, leading to ineffective treatments. When patients offer vague or confusing information, it can be a challenge for their healthcare providers to provide the proper care. To bridge this communication gap, it’s crucial for patients to keep a record of their symptoms and work collaboratively with their healthcare providers.

Additionally, the results from my patients interviews show that the primary challenge faced by patients in documenting their symptoms is the difficulty in accurately describing them in written form.

Analysis of the Current Apple Health

The current process for recording symptoms within the Apple Health app can be overly complex and overwhelming for users. This can potentially discourage people from accurately tracking their symptoms.
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The limitation of only being able to add one symptom at a time make it tedious for users to comprehensively record all their symptoms.

Moreover, searching for the most appropriate symptom to describe their discomfort can also be difficult.

THE SOLUTION

To encourage patients to keep a record of their symptoms, the solution must be intuitive and simple to use for people of all ages. Therefore, I propose the use of visuals to help patients record down the symptoms.

Also, for healthcare providers to comprehend the full patient history, a health journal can help present the relevant information in a consolidated manner.

features proposed:

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1. Health Journal Entries
Consolidated health data (i.e symptoms, nutrition, activity) will help to identify potential triggers
Effectively present patient's recorded health data to identify any patterns, triggers or interactions.

2. Visual Symptoms Trackers
Using visuals to help patient identify the location, type and severity their symptoms
To address the problem of patients having difficulty describing their symptoms with words
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2. Multiple Symptoms Selection
To allow selection of more than one symptoms simultaneously to reduce the number of steps users have to take
Make it less tedious and ensure that patients record all symptoms they are having for better diagnosis

By leveraging the power of UX design, we can bridge the communication gap between patients and healthcare professionals, leading to more accurate diagnoses and treatments. I am excited to continue exploring this field and finding innovative solutions that improve people’s health and well-being.