Connected: An app for staying connected to your loved ones in retirement homes.

Part 1:

Background:

I was contacted by Borhan and Taylor Tealakh about helping build a web and mobile app tentatively called “Connected Family Care.” There was no logo yet and the project was very much in its infancy. The timeline was aggressive though, the founders wanted a fully functioning application to be piloted by summer 2023. They had already hired a database manager and a software developer, what they needed me for was UI/UX. I told them that I understood UX very well and that I had some experience working with UX. This is not untrue. I’m a tech geek, I’ve used a lot of apps and I like to think I have some understanding of user psychology. I’ve worked in content development, content strategy and copywriting roles before. I neglected to mention that my only directly relevant experience was a Google Certificate in UX that I had finished on Coursera in February.

Borhan and Taylor had a combined 20 years of experience working in retirement home management and hospice care. We discussed functional requirements of the app, and I took notes.

Initial Functional Requirements:

The Connected Family Care web (connectedfc.com) and mobile app, abbreviated as CFC will provide the ability for the family of a patient at a (short term) care center to get updates on their loved one. I thought this was a fantastic use case that allowed family members to feel more connected to their loved ones, even when they couldn’t physically visit due to distance or a busy schedule. We started with the family view then outlined what needs to be done to accomplish that in terms of other views and data from the care center’s Electronic Medical Records system (EMR).

Patient Family View Summary:

1. View a history of encounters between the patient and care center staff, including notes about the encounter and any orders resulting from the encounter.
2. View pictures or other media related to the patient’s condition that have been uploaded by the care center staff.
3. View a history of physical therapy and occupational therapy sessions for the patient, as recorded by the care center staff.
4. Messaging system to communicate with care centers and share important information about the patient’s health.
5. Billing and payment system to pay for services provided by care centers. (not urgent, can wait for later once systems are better tested and established.
6. Search and filter functionality to find care centers based on location, availability, and

other criteria. (Also at a later stage, once CFC is established it will announce on its website what centers support the services provided by CFC).

Center Staff View Summary

They reiterated that one of our main goals is to minimize any increase in the load of an already overloaded center staff.

1. Ability to upload/view pictures or other media related to the patient’s activities.
2. Ability to communicate with the patient family via the messaging system.
3. Ability to add new accounts (for new patients or new family members.)
4. Ability to view and manage patient profiles, including treatment plans and medical history, imported from the EMR system.
5. Ability to view encounters between the patient and care center staff, including notes about the encounter and any orders resulting from the encounter, imported from the
6. EMR system.
7. Ability to view physical therapy and occupational therapy sessions for the patient likely imported from EMR.
8. Ability to view and manage billing and payment information likely imported from EMR.
9. Ability to generate reports about patient activity and center performance, possibly imported from EMR with editing functionality in the app itself.

Center Groups View Summary

1. Ability to manage and configure center and user accounts.
2. Ability to manage and configure patient profiles, including treatment plans and medical history, encounters and orders imported from the EMR system.
3. Ability to communicate (or monitor communication) with center staff and patient families via the messaging system.
4. Ability to manage and configure billing and payment information.
5. Ability to generate reports about patient activity and treatment, likely imported from EMR with editing functionality in the app.

Less than a day after our initial conversation, they sent me a pdf with user interface ideas sketched on notebook paper. I was impressed with their eagerness and wanted to get started working right away. I started to think of first steps and realized step one would be to interface with the Database Administrator who was experienced in similar applications and receive his input on UX ideas. Then I would form a quick case study of user types, followed by a UX flow produced with Miro and wireframes produced with Figma. I had always thought of myself as more of a UX writer than designer. But obviously with such a small team, I had to fill both shoes. I relished the opportunity to get in on a project from the ground up.

[Insert Slider image of PDF screens]

Part 2:

Collaboration:

I had an enlightening conversation with the Database Admin. I’ve done some basic SQL and Tableau work, but my technical knowledge of data management and analytics is quite limited. He sent me his data model document and I pretended to understand it. The conclusion of our conversation was that I only had to focus on one user type, the family member hoping to check in on their loved one. That the staff would handle everything else through their existing EMR and for them the app would be limited to reusable assets like a basic messaging system and media upload function. This made my life easier.

I formed a simple case study which with only one user type was quick.

Case Study:

Use case: Checking in on family members and maintaining a connection to their care and treatment progress.

Demographics: Age 30 to 70. Currently limited to United States and English speakers. Because of the quite large target demographic the app had to be particular easy to use, especially for older users who might not be experts at using apps on a daily or regular basis. Although today pretty much everyone knows how to use simple, less technical apps.

What we want the user to say about the app: “This easy-to-use app helped me stay connected to my loved one at [care center] even though they were a 3-hour drive away and I have a full-time job and/or childcare that keeps me busy. Awesome and extremely useful app.”

User Flow:

[insert Miro logo icon]

[insert pdf screenshots on slider]

[https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVMSyG3ds=/?share_link_id=299933395738]

Part 3:

Next Steps:

Discuss with team including founders, database admin and developer.

Edit as needed.

Create more advanced wireframe in Figma, discuss with team.

Create more advanced prototype in Figma, discuss with team.

Propose UX writing framework.