Context

Over the summer, I worked with NeoInnovate Collaborative Consortium to design an mHealth app that helps to track the vitals of pre-term babies in low resource settings.

The Problem

• Hypothermia (Low temperature)
• Not Breathing (Apnea)
• Intra-ventricular haemorage
• Cardio-vascular abnormalities

How is 'Hypothermia' currently handled?

Incubators

Radiant Warmers

Kangaroo Mother Care

Identified Pain points

Dr. Sherri Bucher researched with a facility in Kenya to understand the difficulties faced by care providers in saving pre-term babies. Her research uncovered shocking results on extreme shortage of expensive medical resources. Below are some of the pictures proving the need for affordable medical devices.

• Procedural Kangaroo Mother Care needs extra resources (Intense Labor)
• Advanced medical devices are expensive
• Not enough devices

Introducing Patented Bio-Medical device

NeoInnovate team have developed the patented self-warming device that utilizes wireless sensors to track Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) babies and continuously monitor infant's vital signs. The device has 3 modes.

• In “Standalone” mode, the infant is enveloped in a pouch.
• In “KMC/STS" (Skin to Skin contact) mode, the purple pouch flaps open to allow for STS.
• In “Breastfeeding mode”, the mother could feed the baby comfortably.

Need for an Handy App

From evaluation of using the 'Neowarm', caregivers felt comfortable and appreciated the elegant nature of this device. However, they needed an easy tool that could keep them informed throughout the intensive care period.

How does this solution combat resource inefficiencies?

• 'Neowarm' device along with 'NeoRoo' app serves a bridge to support a large volume of babies that need thermal support leaving the incubators for the vulnerable babies.
• Equipping and empowering both parents and health workers to collaborate and provide effective care through dedicated videos, training materials.

Defining Interaction Flow

Meeting Dr. Sherri (Researcher) and reading through her thesis, I brainstormed possible interactions in the mHealth App with primary focus on tracking

• Skin-to-Skin KMC activity hours
• Standalone KMC hours
• Temperature

Initial Ideation

Low Fidelity Screens

Feedback

• Most important features can be given visibility by placing in bottom nav bar than in Hamburger menu
• Need space to provide snapshot of KMC hours spent
• Vitals visualization seems confusing and overwhelming
• Home page alerts need urgent call to action elements
• Vitals and KMC visualization could be isolated and need similar visualizations for care providers

Style Guide

Iteration 1

Screens with different features are displayed here. I presented this design to internal team members.

1. Do not use gradient as it makes hard to see the lines
2. Bottom nav bar looks heavy with color filled icons
3. Could improve on iconography and consistency
4. Having search bar to search babies in care provider workflow could be useful
5. Should have potential to load primary details ECEB (Essential Care for Every baby, a clinical decision support tool for helping babies breathe in first 24 hours
6. More option is too small

Iteration 2

Polished the prototype based on the feedback and presented it to industry experts, Interaction Designers and Design Researchers

Next Steps

• To get Institutional review board (IRB) approved for conducting participatory design with 20 users. 10 Healthcare workers and 10 KMC dyads in Kenya Care Facilities.
  
• Iterate based on the feedback from the users.
• Include research and design approaches for opioid exposed pre-term babies.

Reflection

Working towards a cause that could provide voice to voiceless babies feels great. This project specifically expanded my visuals skills and I am thankful to all my teammates & industry experts who provided valuable feedback to iterate, brainstorm and finalize the product design to help the needy.