Story & Start
This project was initiated by my dear friend and Polestar project colleague Merel Backers, who became seriously ill and went into a healthcare rabbit hole in 2019. In that period she learned there was a lot to gain in terms of patient engagement and information distribution within hospitals (and in this case: Erasmus MC). With those learnings she presented a concept for a patient app and presented it to her caregivers who helped launch this into a venture funded and developed by Erasmus MC hospital in Rotterdam.
Starting as Digitaal Verbonden we set out to make an app to help patients during their often intensive medical journey.
Digizorg Patient app
In summer 2022 I joined the design team to help continue the design on the patient app, rolling out an MVP early 2023. Our aim was to help the hospital free up time for caregivers (by streamlining their workflow), while also providing more agency to patients. This meant giving patients the option to schedule their appointments, send in simple measurements and let them prepare for upcoming consultations by reading relevant information brochures.
The main difference with or competitors is that we put the user first. And, in the case of a hospital, that means the entire spectrum of a population; low (digital) literacy, visually / motorically impaired, non-native speakers and much more. User testing with this diverse target audience resulted in an emphasis on high contrast, simple language and clear, logical flows without overwhelming users.
Garegiver cockpit
While working on the patient app we also launched a dashboard to complement the HiX platform caregivers use on a day-to-day basis.
The cockpit needed to facilitate caregivers into sending out complex tasks to their patients in a simple way. This means having the ability to set up pre-defined programs, questionnaires and home measurements to send out to patients with similar diagnoses. Minimum effort with maximum output.
We did a pilot with patients who needed to fill in a questionnaire prior to undergoing an MRI scan. By distributing the questionnaire through the Digizorg app this resulted in up to 15 hours a week less administrative work, a cost reduction of more than €40.000 per year and 18.000 less physical questionnaires that needed to be printed and sent out.
Credits
Role: Freelance UX lead
Client: Erasmus MC
Client: Erasmus MC
No rewards (yet)