Medcare: Medication reminder ecosystem
Medication adherence is a problem often affected by factors like forgetfulness, side effects, cost, and lack of accountability, Medcare addresses these problems to improve patient outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, and lower healthcare costs.
Conceptual Project
Product Design, User Research
UI/UX Design, Prototype
Tools
Figma and Adobe CC
Context
I was recently taking care of a sick relative who needed supervision for daily activities and timely medication. With so many medicines to manage, I found it challenging to keep track of which one to give and when.
I explored a few medication reminder apps where I could add medicines individually along with their scheduled times. Later, I discovered that two of his medications had adverse interactions and shouldn’t be taken together. I raised this concern with his doctor, who then prescribed alternative medications.
Experiencing this firsthand made me curious to explore the challenges people face in adhering to medication and identify possible solutions to improve the process.
User Research
I asked my friends and relatives about their medication habits and identified a few recurring patterns, which I began listing to explore potential solutions.
1. Manually adding medicines to a reminder app is tedious and prone to errors.
2. There was no way to identify drug interactions or medicines to avoid due to allergies and side effects.
3. Accountability in personal care enhances the overall recovery process.
4. Recurring doses can be scheduled for online delivery to prevent missed medications.
Additionally, I conducted secondary research by referring to a study of over 10,000 patients. The insights from this study supported my hypothesis and validated the key findings from my interviews.
Problem Statement
How might we simplify medication management for patients and caregivers by reducing manual input errors, preventing drug interactions, ensuring accountability in personal care, and enabling automated prescription refills for better adherence and recovery?
Crazy 8s
I began by ideating solutions for each specific challenge, such as simplifying manual medication entry, ensuring timely reminders, preventing drug interactions, and integrating caregivers for accountability.
By addressing these issues individually, I was able to design focused solutions that catered to specific pain points. Eventually, I combined these solutions into a comprehensive ecosystem that provides users with a seamless, all-in-one platform for medication management, tracking, reminders, caregiver support, and pharmacy refills, ensuring a holistic and efficient experience
Automating Medicine Entry
This was the core issue behind most missed doses and delayed medication intake. I realised that if medicines were synced to the user’s account, manual entry wouldn’t be necessary. Additionally, logging doses could enable seamless tracking by doctors and caregivers, ensuring better adherence.
Note: This solution works on the assumption that the hospital system is synced with the patient account. Hospitals like Apollo, Aster have their pharmacy and patient registration synced and could leverage this system.
Step 1 - New Patient Registration at Hospital
In a hospital setting, when a patient arrives for an appointment, their basic details such as name, age, and contact information are recorded, along with any relevant medical history, symptoms, or concerns they have.
This structured intake process ensures that doctors receive a comprehensive overview of the patient's condition before the consultation. The collected information is then relayed to the doctor, who reviews it to make an informed diagnosis, prescribe medications, suggest necessary tests, and provide recovery guidelines.
I would adapt this systematic approach in a dashboard to streamline patient care, and minimizes errors by keeping all crucial data in one place.
Step 2 - Doctors prescribe necessary medications
During consultation, doctors assess the patient's condition and prescribe medications, note necessary precautions, recommend tests, and provide essential care instructions for a faster recovery.
This is where the system can share all details and prescriptions to the patient, onboarding them to the mobile app to sync their medications with their account.
Step 3 - App with pre-filled medication and reminders
After the appointment concludes and medications are prescribed, the patient receives an invite via email and text message to download the app, enabling them to track and log their medication usage with help of reminders and get notified for order refills and other important alerts and reminders.
Manual Medicine Entry
Users should have the ability to manually add medications and set reminders without requiring a hospital visit. This ensures that individuals who are managing their own treatment or assisting others can stay on track with their medication schedules.
Additionally, by integrating a system that identifies potential drug interactions and highlights possible side effects, users can make more informed decisions about their health and avoid complications, ultimately improving medication adherence and safety."
Medication Reminders
Now, both hospital patients whose prescribed medications are automatically synced to their accounts and users who manually add their medications can benefit from a seamless experience.
They receive timely reminders to take their doses, alerts about potential drug interactions, refill notifications, and warnings about possible side effects. This ensures better medication adherence, reduces risks, and enhances overall health management for all users.
Integrating smartwatch support with the app enables users to receive medication reminders and log their doses directly from their smartwatch, ensuring they stay on track even when their phone isn’t nearby. This enhances accessibility and convenience, especially for users with active lifestyles or those who may not always have their phone at hand..
Accountability Partners/Caregivers
Research data indicates that patients who perceived themselves as being in full control of their recovery often exhibited lower adherence to their prescribed medication regimen. In contrast, those with a caregiver providing support and reminders showed better compliance and improved health outcomes.
This underscores the importance of an accountability partner who can actively assist patients by tracking missed doses, reinforcing adherence, and ensuring a more structured recovery process.
Onboarding an accountability partner
An accountability partner can be added during patient registration, alongside the emergency contact. This ensures they receive an app invite link and are automatically assigned as a caregiver.
In the above view we explore adding an accountability partner via contact invite and customising the reminders they receive notifications for. The caregiver receives a text with the app link and, upon installation, can accept the patient's invite to assist with medication tracking. Additionally, they have the option to pause or stop notifications as needed.
Pharmacy Delivery
For recurring doses and timely refills, ensuring medication delivery from a pharmacy before the supply runs out is crucial for adherence. The app will track medication usage and notify users when they are running low.
This proactive approach allows users to place refill orders in advance, preventing missed doses and ensuring a seamless medication routine. Additionally, users can explore nearby pharmacies that offer delivery services, select their preferred option, and complete the order with ease.
Learnings
This product design challenge pushed me to explore how to create an ecosystem that delivers the best possible solution. Through this process, I gained deeper insights into user behaviour and identified key edge cases to ensure a comprehensive approach. My focus was on designing a medication reminder app that operates with minimal intervention while adding significant value to patients, caregivers, and doctors in tracking recovery and ensuring medication adherence.
I also learned how to design an invite system for an accountability partner, ensuring caregivers can seamlessly assist patients. Additionally, integrating smartwatch notifications allows users to log their medication on time without relying on their phone. While a small detail, this feature significantly enhances the overall user experience by making medication tracking more effortless and accessible.