Jonathan K. Loeb
Research/Design/Prototyping
Haven
A two-semester Capstone Project for our corporate client, Teletracking. Our team researched, designed, tested, and iterated a solution for people with special medical needs and their caretakers during hurricanes using Agile methodology.
In collaboration with Ketki Jadhav, Marina Leao Lucena; Brooke Sachs, and Nishchala Singhal
The Client
My Roles
User Research Lead
UX Designer
Front-End Developer
Time Frame
7 Months:
January - August, 2018
Research and Design
The Problem
During disasters, there is a large surge of non-patients seeking shelter at hospitals, especially during hurricanes. Our client, Teletracking, a world leader in bed-tracking and patient management for hospitals, tasked us with finding a solution that could benefit both hospitals and citizens at large in times of natural catastrophe and mass crisis.
To approach the problem, the team moved in sprints through several stages: secondary research, generative research, and iterative design.
Secondary Research and Surveys
When beginning our research, we turned to several exploratory methods better understand how people behave in disasters and why. These included a secondary review of academic literature on the topic, guerrilla interviews at cafes and on the street, as well as more detailed interviews with experts in the domain of disaster preparation. These included members of Paragon, Rubicon, and The Red Cross, and a number of employees of hospitals where disasters had recently taken place were interviewed as well.
We also conducted a survey of how people have handled, or would handle a disaster through Amazon M Turk.
Stakeholder Mapping
Moving into generative research, the team pulled together what we learned to form this stakeholder map.
Everything revolves around the citizen (user) in this example.
Teletracking provides efficient patient flow to hospitals who provide treatment and sometimes shelter to those who need it during disasters.
Generative Research Excercises
A host of design exercises were undertaken to generate ideas for our solution: from "How Might We," "Crazy 8s," and "Reverse Assumptions" to Co-Design sessions with key stakeholders.
In this picture, I'm leading members of Teletracking through the excercise "Where We Stand," also known as "The Polak Game" for its inventor, Frederik Lodewijk Polak. The goal is to discover how people imagine the future and their impact upon it. Participants are placing themselves on the board based on their optimism (or lack of) about societal and individual disaster preparedness in the near future.
Ideation and Storyboarding
Storyboards of our design ideas were drawn up and "Speed Dated" (i.e. tested) with people at Teletracking.
My board for "Volunteers," was very well received, but our client preferred an application based solution that would help direct users away from hospitals during disasters.
Prototyping
The application, originally named Sheltr, was to help citizens plan for and cope with disaster situations; especially caregivers and those they take care of. Hurricanes became the use case we narrowed in on and built our prototype around as it was the most common and costly for many of our client's customers.
Evaluative Research
User testing of our prototypes was conducted both on-site and remotely in Florida, as well as in Pittsburgh. People with special medical needs, as well as caregivers for people with special medical needs comprised the vast majority of our test subjects. Between tests, iterations upon the design of Sheltr (later Haven) were made based on user feedback.
A Comprehensive Solution
The Mobile Application:
Onboarding and Registration
Getting people familiar with an app is essential to getting them to use it, especially in the case of more skeptical users, as indicated in our tests.
The onboarding process takes place as soon as the user first opens Haven. Haven's basic functions are explained in a clear and precise manner.
Not every person who can register for a special needs shelter does, and of those that do, not many use them. They either aren’t aware of their availability, or they have trouble with the steps needed to sign up. Haven helps encourage registration by simplifying and streamlining the proccess.
The Mobile Application:
Preparation
Knowing who will accompany the user in the event of an evacuation allows Haven to suggest optimal preparation arrangements. For example, the preparation list for a user with pets will recommend obtaining additional items, such as pet food.
Haven also features high contrast elements and larger than normal type faces, which helps assist elderly users. A majority of people with special medical needs and many of their caregivers are elderly.
As users said they were more likely to complete a request when they understood its necessity. Here is a mathematical explanaition of why specifically 6 gallons of water is being recommended.
The Mobile Application:
Evacuation
In case of evacuation, Haven recommends the best route to safety based on up-to-the-minute geographical and weather information.
Based on conditions and the medical and personal information of the user, or the person they care for, Haven suggests the safest places to shelter. Again, clear explanation of the reasoning behind Haven's recommendations is key to encouraging follow-through.
The Service Plan
While Haven is intended to direct people away from hospitals in disasters, there is more that can be done to help hospitals in these critical situations. This Service Plan of how Haven's functions relate to three key stakeholders: the caregiver, the shelter/emergency management system, and the hospital in the lead up to and during a disaster.
The Data Model
A Data Model was provided to Teletracking as well. Data could be a key feature in providing value to customers (hospitals, shelters, etc.) moving forward.
The Future Roadmap
The Feature Roadmap provides for the future expansion of Haven and its associated services for Teletracking. Central to this is bringing Haven to other geographical locations and adapting it to other disasters, such as winter storms, or earthquakes. The roadmap includes many ideas created in the the generative design stage that had to be abandoned for expediency, including incorporating "smart" sensors for data collection and providing incentives for completing preparation lists, such as coupons towards needed supplies.
