Keva Health is a personalised healthcare assistant.
Keva Health, is a personal health care assistant and helps patients make the best decisions for themselves. It is focussed on care for asthma patients by tracking their regular health and status.
The basic functionalities which were performed by the users using the platform include:
Tracking Health: The app regularly checks upon the health of the patients and reminds them of the medication prescriptions. In case of severity, the patient is directed to call the ER directly.
Medication & Asthma Action Plan: Since asthma can last for a long time, patients can lose track of the medication or the dosage. These features help the patients to keep track of their medications and also the asthma severity.
Tasks to Perform: Here the patient can update any information that is required - Medications list, Doctors prescriptions, tasks to perform, reminders, etc.
My role
This was a freelance project and I worked on it with a colleague of mine. Since the company was based out the USA, we did most of the secondary research.
Company
Keva Health Pvt. Ltd.
Year
2017
Product type
App (Android, IOs)
Skills
Secondary Research
Wireframing
Screen Flows
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Tools used
Research & Insights
Secondary Research:
Asthma causes the airways to become inflamed and swollen, reducing the amount of air that can pass in and out of the lungs.
Types of Asthma:
Different types of asthma are listed below:
Occupational:
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Working with organic compounds, grain and wood dust, soldering flux, latex & animals
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Employment associated with the highest risk of problems include: those who spray paint, bakers and those who process food, nurses, chemical workers, those who work with animals, welders, hairdressers and timer workers.
Asprin Induced
Reactions to NSAIDs (Non Inflammatory medications).
Genetic
People with a family history of allergies are more prone to developing asthma.
Allergic
Many people with asthma also have allergies. This is called allergic asthma.
Childhood Asthma
The majority of the children who develop asthma do so before the age of 05-10 years
Alcohol Induced
Non Allergic
When Triggers affect Asthma
Different triggers are listed below:
Environmental:
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Allergens, Air pollution, Environmental Chemicals
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Smoking during pregnancy & after delivery
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Low quality air (traffic pollution, high ozone levels)
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Indoor organic compounds & pesticides
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Dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander (fragments of fur or feathers), Mold
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Air Irritants (Smoke, Chemical Fumes, Strong Odors)
Medical Conditions
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Strong emotions (Shouting, Crying, Laughing, Panic, Rapid Breathing)
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Obesity
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Reaction to asprin
Exercise
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Rapid Breathing, Difficulty in breathing, Shortness of breath
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Common in professional athletes: cyclists, swimmers & cross-country skiers
Weather Conditions
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More common when the weather is dry and cold
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Changes in weather
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Cold Air
Patterns
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Early morning or at night, During or after exercise, during certain seasons, after crying or laughing
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When exposed to common asthma triggers
Asthma Action Plan
Each patient is given the Asthma Action Plan by their Doctor which has instructions they need to follow based on their triggers and severity.
Green: Above 960 (No Symptoms)
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Use preventative medication
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Breathing is good
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No cough or wheezing
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Sleeping through the night is good
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Can work and play easily
Yellow: 600 to 960 (Some Symptoms)
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Use of preventative medication
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First signs of cold or cough
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Mild wheezing and/ or tightness in chest
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Exposure to known trigger
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Coughing at night
The user should call the clinical care incase required
Red: Below 600 (Very Bad Symptoms)
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Danger level medication required
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Medicines might not help
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Breathing is fast and hard
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Trouble speaking
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In children ribs might show
The user should call the clinical care incase required
The user should rush to emergency if the situation becomes serious or the app will call 911.
Understanding the user
Keva Health is a consumer based product. Most of the research was done by the co-founders who were also doctors and had great insights into the patient problems. I asked most of the questions to them to gain more understanding about asthma and the patients pain points as well.
How do the patients monitor their health on regular basis?
What is the biggest problems that the patients with asthma face?
How do they react when they get triggered and show symptoms?
Does asthma affect their day-to-day activities and life?
How often do they visit their doctors for their treatment?
Do a lot of patients show associated conditions?
Shown below are four Personas of the user, based on type - Environmental, Genetic and Occupational. From this pain and gain points I discovered which helped to improve the experience and map out the features as well.
Defining problem statement
Understanding the problem statement
There were a lot of interesting points which were observed after the interviews and insight mapping. Asthma is a health issue which affected a person for life or for a long time depending on severity. Some of the major pain points focussed on were as following:
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Going to the doctor every time the patient is sick can turn out expensive as healthcare is very expensive in the USA.
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Asthma can be triggered at any time due to unforeseen circumstances, which makes it difficult to monitor symptoms and peak flow for reporting to the doctor.
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A lot of patients tend to miss or forget their medicine doses, as they would differ based on their Asthma Action Plan.
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Getting help at short notice can be difficult at times (vacations, work trips, etc)
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Asthma can easily be triggered due to environmental changes, which makes changes in weather a very important pain point.
Identifying Design Requirements
Based on interviews and business requirements, basic design and tech requirements were identified. These were then segregated so that it would give a direction during the designing and ideation.
Clean & easy to understand interfaces
Easy help whenever required
Personal assistant for personalised care
Recording progress and changes easily
Weather reports to inform any change in weather
Reminders/notes to add incase any past information has to be kept in mind
Updated Asthma Action Plan always
Doctors notes and reminders are easy to
Access to various hospitals and clinics in case of emergencies
Ideation
After working on the wireframes, final screens were worked created. These were designed keeping in mind the requirements of the users and regularly taking feedback from the clients.
Testing & Release
How testing impacted design.
The product was tested out with the targeted users on various parameters for functionality and feasibility. Some of the points that emerged during the testing were:
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A lot of people found the personal assistant interaction very engaging. It was easy to understand and enter information.
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The products other features like reminders, tasks, etc were also impactful as remembering which medication to take in case of emergencies could be a big pain point.
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The network of hospitals and clinics had to be rich and widespread as that is what would help the patients in case of emergency.
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Weather feature was appreciated a lot as that was something that created maximum triggers for people.
Success metrics
The product was launched in 2018 and since there some of the numbers to appreciate it's success are mentioned below.
4.8+
Rating on Google playstore & IOS
01k+
App downloads
My Takeaways
This was a very interesting experience and had its own unique challenges. Some of my key takeaways were:
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I learned a lot about asthma & what complications do people have due to it.
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The concept of tracking the disease through the app was very interesting and new.
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The concept of the app was contextual and need a doctors viewpoint at a lot of stages.
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There were a lot of factors that the app need to track down to assist the user.
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This is was the first app of its kind that tracks asthma & also provides an action plan on the app. It helps users to reduce the redundant rounds to the ER (emergency) or Doctor.
All data and information is copyright & trademark of Keva health PVT. LTD.