A Conversational Approach to Patient Remote Monitoring
Innovation in Telehealth
Background
Today, over 860 million people worldwide are suffering from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or COPD, and the numbers are growing. On a personal level, chronic diseases lead to a higher mortality and significantly lower quality of life. At the same time, costs in healthcare are exploding and the economic impact is immense.
Task
To support chronic disease patients to manage their disease better and live healthier lives, the client – a multinational pharmaceutical company – launched the development of an innovative telehealth solution.
Michael led the product innovation process to develop the user interface concept and design for the core component of the telehealth solution, a touchscreen device intended to aid in the holistic disease management at the patient’s homes:
- Health data recording (e. g. blood oxygen level, lung function, symptoms)
- Drug compliance monitoring (e.g. through electronically enabled smart pills or inhalers)
- Activity monitoring
- Encouragement of behavior change toward healthier habits
Outcomes
Through early and repeated user-testing with patients, the design team was able to develop a conversational user interface that did not only allow elderly people with no smartphone or computer experience to use the device without training but also led to a high level of emotional attachment with the patient’s digital “companion”.
On the backend side, the system was set up to help doctors and nurses to monitor their patients more closely and detect worsening symptoms before deteriorations occur.