WORK

humana

User Research

humana

PROJECT TYPE

Group Project

(Cornell Tech)

Group Project

(Cornell Tech)

SOFTWARE

Figma, Miro, Google Slides

DURATION

5 Months

TECHNIQUE

User Research, Interview, Experiment, Presentation Design

teammates

1 Designer

3 Engineers

1 MBA

1 Designer

3 Engineers

1 MBA

overview

Personal Pharma helps the older generation take their medication correctly and on time to reduce possible errors or delays. It offers reminders, text-to-speech, two-step verifications, and translation in users’ preferred languages.

PROBLEM

Many older adults have difficulty taking medication on time

Older adults use pill boxes to take medication but it is challenging for them in adhering to their medication schedule due to memory decline and the amount of medication needed to be taken.

Older adults use pill boxes to take medication but it is challenging for them in adhering to their medication schedule due to memory decline and the amount of medication needed to be taken.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How might we help elderly people manage their health in their own homes?

solution

A pill bottle scanning app

Personal Pharma verifies medications, reads instructions, provides medication reminders, and offers multilingual support to users.

Research Method

Market Research

Qualitative Research—User Interview

18 interviewees: older adults (65+), geriatricians, and caregivers

research FINDINGS

Rising medication misuse in the United States

The usage and the number of medications taken in the United States have been increasing each yearbout 20-30% of people in the state misuse their medication every year, and this is sometimes fatal.

Research 01

20%

adverse drug events caused by error were related to patient use of medications in the home.

20%

adverse drug events caused by error were related to patient use of medications in the home.

Research 03

67%

of parents accurately recalled the instructions of the medication taken by their children.

67%

of parents accurately recalled the instructions of the medication taken by their children.

Research 02

98,000

Americans experience medical errors of all kinds each year; 8th leading cause of death in the US.

98,000

Americans experience medical errors of all kinds each year; 8th leading cause of death in the US.

Research 04

18M

people aged 12+ may misuse prescription psychotherapeutic drugs every year.

18M

people aged 12+ may misuse prescription psychotherapeutic drugs every year.

Older adults prefer TV and smartphones

Older adults mostly watch TV and use their smartphones instead of tablets; their technology skills vary. Some patients who are visually impaired or suffer from dementia need additional support with hands-free devices or voice assistants.

project goal

To figure out the optimal way that enables older adults to accurately take their medication on time.

User Persona

Based on our user interviews, we found that many older adults receive assistance from their caregivers. Consequently, we decided to define two user personas.

Older adult

Caregivers

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS (BMC)

Our team analyzed the healthcare market and set the business model to define Personal Pharma and its value against its competitors and to assess it from business perspectives.

potential risks

To address each risk, we formulated hypotheses and designed an experiment plan for evaluation. For the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to four groups by our team.

RISK 01

Complicated and exhausting verification for the user with multiple medications

TEST GROUP

GROUP A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

CONTROL GROUP

GROUP B

Taking < 5 medications

HYPOTHESIS 02

Compared to the test group, the control group will have a higher percentage of people adhering to taking their medication as instructed.

RISK 02

A single reminder is not sufficient for the user to take their medication

TEST GROUP

GROUP 2

Receiving multiple reminders

CONTROL GROUP

GROUP 1

Receiving single reminder

HYPOTHESIS 02

Compared to the control group, the test group will have a higher percentage of people adhering to taking their medication as instructed.

experiment–Prep

Participants are 9 older adults in the Roosevelt Island Senior Center who are over 50, have smartphones and use messenger apps, such as iMessage and WhatsApp, which are our MVP (minimum Viable Product). Our team prepared pill bottles filled with jelly beans and randomly assigned participants to four groups:

GROUP 1-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

GROUP 1-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

GROUP 2-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

GROUP 2-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

experiment–process

5-day experiments

Participants were assigned to each of our team. When we sent a voice message to them at the promised time, they had to reply back to us by taking a clear picture of the pill bottles as we directed. We checked it as 'incomplete' when participants did not respond back within 10 minutes.

Picture response accuracy

Since our app provides a scanner function to register and verify a user's medication, it is crucial to see how clear users are able to scan their pill bottles. Therefore, we evaluated the picture response accuracy rate. We only checked it as 'completed' if we received the accurate images.

experiment–result

Single reminder proven more effective

All treatment groups scored more than 85% in both response rate and accuracy. In particular, the groups who got a single reminder completed their tasks without any errors. For the multiple reminder test, the group who was assigned more than five medications showed a lower response rate and picture accuracy than those with fewer medications. As a result, it is proven that the amount of the medication does not affect users' motivation to use our product, and a single reminder is more effective than multiple ones.

Participants Response Rate

100%

GROUP 1-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

picture response accuracy

Picture Response Accuracy

100%

GROUP 1-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

Participants Response Rate

100%

GROUP 1-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

picture response accuracy

Picture Response Accuracy

100%

GROUP 1-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving single reminder

Participants Response Rate

97%

GROUP 2-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

picture response accuracy

Picture Response Accuracy

100%

GROUP 2-A

Taking ≥ 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

Participants Response Rate

85%

GROUP 2-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

picture response accuracy

Picture Response Accuracy

98.61%

GROUP 2-B

Taking < 5 medications

Receiving multiple reminders

feedback (from participants)

Great to offer a text-based option

““When I was in the middle of something, it was intrusive to have to pick up the phone and listen to it. If I could have looked at a text and responded, it would have been less obvious.”

-Tanya, 52

Wasn't able to receive notifications

““One time I forgot to charge my phone so that I could not receive any messages. Also, one time my phone volume was too low so I was a couple minutes late to realize I had the recorded message.”

-Sandra, 65

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takeaway

What I learned was…

Communication is significant to success in teamwork

Our team always worked on our project smoothly because every member respected each others' opinions and perspectives while also coming up with their own ideas. Therefore, we were able to find a novel solution and always ahead in terms of votes from other students and professors on every Maker Day so that we got a chance to present our work at Open Studio.

If I had time, I would…

Make a hi-fi prototype or an app

In this program, every team member had to engage in every process, regardless of our majors, so we individually had chances to learn Business. However, we did not have enough time to make a prototype since we only had a week to plan and complete an experiment. If we had had more than a week, we would have conducted a large-scale experiment with more participants while developing a hi-fi prototype or an app.