Designers
Digital Health Lab / Josh Richman, Ixabu Gonzalez, Kim Im, Kyungmin Lee, Matthieu Chaminade, Megan Gupta, Philip Park, Young Jang
Year
2021
Category
Product
Country
United States
»Asthma remains a worldwide health problem. ‘My Lung Health’ skillfully addresses this issue by helping clinicians get a more comprehensive picture of the health of patients' lungs by allowing them to include data collected by smart devices and contextual data in the assessment. This comprehensive view of lung situations can also help patients in the daily handling of their asthma situation. The jury explicitly commends the specific focus and the clear, non-intimidating, and inviting UI design of the app.«
Stephanie Hölzlwimmer
And the Award goes to...
Three questions to the project team
What was the particular challenge in the project from a UX point of view?
Asthma monitoring is currently limited to patient symptom reporting and clinically observed changes in lung function. Surprisingly, modern healthcare still relies on observations conducted by clinicians and unreliable patient reporting - potentially missing a considerable portion of the data. My Lung Health’s goal, which it achieved, was to reduce typically lengthy in-person pulmonary tests to quick tasks users can complete anywhere. Many tasks involve talking, breathing, or coughing into the phone for active data collection. Due to unconventional phone placements and orientations required, the design team paid special attention to guide users to perform the tasks successfully.
What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha! moment, was there a low point?
While conducting usability testing, we uncovered the need for users to redo tasks due to low-quality data collection and user error. This prompted us to create workflows that allowed users to repeat tasks easily and accounted for cycling through activities. We also discovered some users struggled to position their phone and watch correctly at the beginning of tasks, highlighting the need for a countdown prior to tasks. Testing also revealed the need for users to self-report exacerbations. Subsequently, we added the Exacerbation Assessment to the main screen, forming the product into a cohesive, comprehensive, and useful application.
Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
By taking what has traditionally been an in-person clinical observation and redesigning it into an accurate remote data collection process, we’re setting a new precedent for how researchers conduct studies in the field. The app acts as a model for studying health conditions that have previously only been observed in clinical settings. My Lung Health offers a revolutionary solution that could lead to improved treatment for 339 million people with asthma worldwide, and through its example has the potential to advance future health research.
