Case Study: Designing an App to Integrate Prescription Medication Adherence into Daily Routines
This article outlines the process of how I designed an app that helps users stick to their medication schedule using the Hooked Model.
How did it start?
It all began when I noticed my mother having difficulty sticking to her medication schedule. She often missed taking important medications because she would forget, especially if her alarm went off while she was busy with chores.
Maintaining a medication schedule has become increasingly challenging in today’s fast-paced and busy lifestyle. With the demands of work, family responsibilities, and various daily commitments, people often find themselves struggling to strike a balance between their health needs and other priorities.
Problem Statement:
To design an experience that increases patients’ adherence to prescription medications in their daily routines.
Target Users:
The app targets young adults to middle-aged people who have ad-hoc schedules.
Project Goals:
- Encourage users to stay committed to their medication regimen
- Create a customizable reminder system that can be customized to accommodate different patients’ requirements.
- Manage medications efficiently
- Understand the psychology behind maintaining habits.
A Glimpse of App:
Design Process
1. Defining Problem Statement and Project Goals
The problem I observed was ‘Missed medication dosage by a single individual’. This statement doesn’t provide much hypothesis/scope to create a usable product.
So, It was required to widen the viewpoint of the problem to see how this problem is being defined and solved from different perspectives.
For this, I had some questions that needed to be answered
Do other people face similar issues while managing medication schedule and how they tackle it ?
Why there were missed dosage in spite of using medication management methods ?
What is the root cause and can it be solved with my product ?
1.1 Research
🔎Browsing:
I started with internet browsing with a few questions in mind:
How people are affected by missing medications?
What techniques/methods do people use for maintaining medical regimen?
What are the limitations of currents methods?
Type of medication routines and medications
Insights:
- 77% percent of patients demonstrated high degrees of compliance with their medication regimen when the treatment was designed to cure a disease and only 63% of patients complied when treatment was aimed at prevention.
- The extent of non-adherence has been recorded as low as 10 percent and as high as 92%.
- The non-adherence occurs because patients are either unaware that they are not taking medications as prescribed or the regimen is just too complex.
- Helping people take their medicine appropriately would be a better achievement to avoid a higher risk of severe relapses, antibiotic resistance, and preventable hospitalizations.
- 25% of all litigation claims in general medical practice were due to medication errors.
Types of medication errors based on psychological principles.
Rule-based errors
- Not following Instructions for a medication.
- Having medications at incorrect intervals (e.g., too close together or too far apart) based on dosing schedules.
Action-based errors (called slips)
- Injecting a medication meant for intramuscular use.
- Misinterpreting dosing instructions, leading to incorrect dosage.
Memory-based errors (called lapses)
- Losing track of the number of pills dispensed or administered.
- Misplacing medication or documentation
🧮Competitive Analysis:
I explored a few Reminder apps to know how users tackle the problems and what gaps need to be filled.
The evaluation helped in product positioning in the market, Identifying the product’s unique value proposition and how it stands out from competitors in the market.
Playstore Reviews
To know how real users are getting affected by using the app I read user’s feedback on Google Playstore.
App feedback demonstrated what features were valued more by the users and where I could find opportunities to improve my product.
Insights:
- The lack of proper CTAs on the reminder screen leads to confusion.
- Lack of data backup functionality leads to the loss of important medical information and diminishes trust in the product for the long term.
- Many users face customization issues while setting reminders.
1.2 Primary Research
After getting a basic knowledge about the techniques and routine, I wanted to know what medication management techniques people rely on in real life and related behaviors.
🧾Survey:
I conducted a User Survey to validate the data I procured from secondary research and to gain a better understanding of the users’ pain points and needs, to shape a more effective and user-centered product design.
A few of the questions asked in the survey:
- Are you currently using any medication management methods?
- What difficulty do you face while using the above method?
- Reasons for missing your medications
Insights:
- Most of the people are on daily prescription
- Patients often miss their medications due to a busy or ad-hoc schedule.
- Many patients have to take multiple medications daily with specific instructions and it becomes difficult to manage as it leads to confusion.
- Patients having diseases/conditions without active symptoms often forget to have medication as there is no internal reminder in the form of discomfort.
👩🏻💼Interview:
I performed user interviews for a deeper exploration of the problem space and uncovered potential aspects that might not have been initially considered related to their behaviors, frustrations, and needs regarding the management of medication schedules.
Below are a few of the questions I asked during interviews.
Tell me about your experience with managing your current medication schedule?
How do you keep track of your medications, their dosages, and timings?
Are there any particular aspects of your medication that you find most important to track or monitor? (e.g., side effects, medication effectiveness, adherence, etc.)
What security and privacy concerns do you have regarding managing your medication information through an app?
How do you track your medication refills? Is this something you would like the app to handle?
What Struggles you face as a responsible for other’s medication schedules?
Insights:
- Maintaining a complex short-term medication routine takes the most effort from patients.
- Patients who use the app to manage their medication emphasize how the lack of customization in reminders either increase their effort or affect their medical regimen (multiple alarms for interval-based medications, different dosage for the same medication)
- Few users miss a dose or two as they forget to buy medication after the current batch is used up
- Privacy is one of the main concerns for patients.
- The ability to track medical adherence helps patients to be motivated and keep up with their schedules.
1.3 Insight Analysis
After my research process, I gained many insights from various research methods.
🔰Affinity mapping
I used affinity mapping to organize the research insights and generate common patterns. It helped me to set a vision for the product.
Gathering Data
I collected all the insights I gained from various research methods.
Identifying Patterns
Forming Patterns from Insights
I begin by reviewing all the insights to identify common themes or patterns that emerge. These patterns include users’ pain points, needs, preferences, behaviors, or any other relevant aspects.
Conclusion
Patterns
- Lack of Routine
- Lack of Trustable Reminding Methods
- Poor Medication Management
Lack of a routine affects medication adherence because a routine helps create a habit, increasing accountability and reducing the chances of missed or skipped doses.
while encountering issues with reminding methods, patients may forget doses or take them inconsistently, leading to reduced medication efficacy. Trustworthy reminders provide the necessary reliability and accountability in a patient’s routine, reinforcing their commitment to medication adherence.
Poor medication management leads to disorganization and confusion in handling prescriptions. Patients may struggle to keep track of their medications.
Project Goals
- Encourage users to stay committed to their medication regimen
- Create a customizable reminder system that can be customized to accommodate different patients’ requirements.
- Manage medications efficiently
- Understand the psychology behind maintaining habits.
Features can be added and improvised for user’s convenience but making sure the users stick to their medication routine is the ultimate priority of the product.
Problem Statement
To design an experience that Increases patients’ adherence to prescription medications in their daily routines.
2. Defining Strategy and brainstorming ideas to fulfill project goals
2.1 Strategy
I had to ideate based on a strategy that would help me solve the problem statement, i.e. To create an experience that increases patients’ adherence to prescription medications in their daily routines.
The main issue users have been dealing with is,
Every pain point refer back to the inability of user to incorporate medication schedule as a part of their routine.
For this problem, It was crucial to understand how habits are formed.
Habits are the brain’s ability to quickly retrieve the appropriate behavioral response or process we have already learned.
If a product can take care of user’s business for a long time and user can depend on this with all their trust, it would definitely become part of their daily routine.
📌Hooked Model
The hooked model helps in creating habit-forming products.
I intended to follow the hooked model’s principles while coming up with app features that would add value to the user’s experience as well as the lifecycle of the app.
2.2 Ideation /Features
Time to think beyond limits
❓‘How Might We’ Method
I used the How Might We method to frame my ideation.
Based on the Patterns obtained from research insights, I created the following questions
HMW incorporate medication Schedule in part of patient’s routine ?
HMW Manage Medications ?
HMW make Better Reminder Customization ?
HMW provide assistance to patients ?
HMW ensure constant access to medications ?
HMW provide accurate Medication Update to user ?
I listed the brainstormed ideas under the Hooked Model’s Principles i.e. Trigger, Action, Variable Reward.
It gave clarity on how a particular idea could be implemented based on the properties of these principles.
2.3 Prioritization Technique
Gathering my conscious and moving to reality
It is my first product design case study so I had to prioritize based on core aspects of the project that would provide the most valuable insights and demonstrate my design skills effectively within the available timeframe.
🎭Value Vs Effort Method
I prioritize the value of features based on the time needed to design them, insights from my user research, and to what extent they are directly contributing to fulfilling my project goals.
Features added to incorporate Hook’s Law into the app.
Trigger | Action | Variable Reward | Investment
📌Easily Actionable Alerts
Giving access to users how they want to get prompted for taking medication and providing relevant CTAs can create a great impact on the product’s value.
A Reminder/Alert acts as an external trigger that communicates next action the user should take.
The ease of doing a particular action affects the likelihood that a behavior will occur frequently.
📌Streak
Apps that allow users to track their progress can be highly effective in habit formation. When users see their progress over time, it can motivate them to continue using the app and stick to the associated habit.
Reward of Self is a type of Variable Reward in Hook’s Laws. It is fueled by ‘intrinsic motivation’ people desire to gain a sense of competency.When a product becomes tightly coupled with a thought or an emotion , it leverages an internal trigger.
📌Custom Reminder
Apps that offer personalized experiences can be more effective at habit formation. When the app tailors content and recommendations to the user’s preferences and needs, it becomes more relevant and engaging, encouraging regular use.
📌Assistance
Creating a sense of community for users who can assist each other in monitoring the medication schedules within the app.
This feature act as a key factor in attracting more users to the app. The sense of responsibility towards the dependent can induce the feeling of ‘Reward of tribe’ (Variable reward)
📌Medication Management
- Maintaining record of present and past medication information
- Refill reminder
- Data Backup
The stored value users put into the product increases the likelihood they will use it again in the future and lead to them stay commited to the app. The stored value act as an Investement from user to the app.
2.4 User Flow
One of the Goals of the RxRoutine app is to provide patients with a highly customizable medication reminder that can be accommodated uniquely according to their medication routine and related needs.
- Set Reminder flow is divided into 3 pages based on the type of information needed from the user.
- There are two schedule pages i.e. Time-based and Interval-based, A user is directed to one of the schedule pages based on the schedule option selected on the medication info page.
Medication Info
Gathering relevant information to create reminders begins with medication details, and saving this information also aids in efficiently managing medication data within the app.
Schedule Info
The prioritization of the order of information is made in a way that could be implemented with various combinations to provide the user with the most flexibility according to their unique medication schedule.
Based on the following questions the schedule flow is created
When does Patient take the medication?
How often patient take the medication in a day?
Do the Medication dose remain same for all times?
How many time a week patient have their medication?
What is the prescription duration?
Is the prescription schedule duration cycled?
Alert Info
Users of similar products in the market remark on the adequacy of reminders and related settings, noting that they are either too limited or overwhelming due to a lack of customization options.
- I have incorporated a ‘Notify’ option for medication refills, which assists patients in addressing the problem of medication unavailability.
2.5 Information Architecture
As I already formed the patterns and selected features to add to the app, It was time to think about how the information would be structured across the screens within the information architecture.
3. Executing Solutions Visually
After finalizing what will be part of the screens, it's time to think how it’ll be shown.
I followed Human Interface Guidelines to design this app to ensure it aligns with industry best practices and platform-specific standards.
I integrated the following UX laws into the visual design to create an intuitive, efficient, and engaging user experience.
Assumptions:
- The user of the app has been using the app for more than a week
- The app is available for Apple Watch
3.1 Wireframes
Wireframing with pen paper helps me put everything on screen and I use it as a rough space to explore various visual options and iterate on the spot, especially with cards, I create different card iterations on the same screen to see which one looks good and feels intuitive.
3.2 Visual Identity
🎨Style Guide
A style guide helps maintain consistency, making sure everything in the design looks the same and fits with the product’s style and what users expect.
Color
I chose Black as the primary color in the app to give a neutral feel to the app.
I used Teal color and Rose color to indicate positive and negative patterns in the routine which lets users know how is everything going on as soon as they open the app and if they need to take any steps to improve their regimen.
Utilizing neutral colors such as black or grey shades for CTAs effectively captures user attention without conflicting with the teal and rose colored indicative buttons or cards.
I named this app RxRoutine. The name suggests that the app may help users establish and maintain a routine for taking medications or managing their health.
3.3 Visuals
Onboarding Flow
An effective onboarding flow reduces user friction, boosts engagement, and increases the likelihood of users adopting and continuing to use the app. I used splash screens to familiarize users with the app’s features and highlight key benefits.
I wanted to create an app that allows users to connect with acquaintances through their contact numbers. So, I decided to enable the user to sign up using their mobile numbers.
I applied Fitt’s Law to improves usability of app. The Placement of buttons are at bottom of screen to make the thumbs easier to reach the button. It contributes to a sense of fluidity and ease of use.
Set Reminder Flow
This is the primary feature of the app and starts with the floating button.
I have divided the Flow into three parts based on the type of information needed from the user.
To keep the user motivated throughout the set reminder process I used a progress bar with 3 steps based on the psychological phenomenon called Endowed Progress Effect.
By showing users a sense of progress, in this case reaching certain milestones by completing each step, users get motivated to continue with the process of setting reminders.
I put related information together in groups near each other to make it look like there are fewer things to reduce cognitive load, following the Law of Proximity.
App Flow
RxRoutine App follows a simple and intuitive navigation across the app. All the major features of the app are accessible through the home screen.
HomeScreen
This is the first screen that opens when the user launches the app. I designed it based on a few questions in my mind given below:
What might be the motivation behind user opening the app?
What information user could need whenever they open the app?
What kind of action user might need to perform when they open the app?
How can I help user take required action with minimal effort ?
How can I let user know the status of their medication routine without getting distracted?
The active task of this app is to inform the user about the medication reminders and keep the user motivated to do this consistently. I wanted the user to see this information every time they open the app.
The overall view of the homescreen highlights key information with Teal and Rose color to give the user positive or negative feel about their medication schedule as soon as they open the app and highlights calls to action with Primary color to give distinctive visual elements. This is based on Von Restroff Effect.
Weekly streak:
It is at the top of the home screen and gives weekly updates on their medication intake information. It lets the user stay motivated to continue the streak by having medications on time.
Upcoming Reminder:
The user would open this app to know what is their next task pending and when. I put it right at the center of the screen with adequate information and CTA to mark medication as taken to reduce the user’s effort.
Today's Medication Summary:
It lets the user know if any medication is pending for today and if previous medications were taken according to schedule.
Quick action:
It gives easy access to a few sub-features of the app that could be needed to be updated quickly.
Reminder Screen
This is the most crucial screen of this app.
Whenever a reminder is active and prompts user to take medicine, user have to decide on what action they need to take based on their circumstances.
It's important to take into consideration the scenarios users could be in and how they would like to continue with the prompt.
- If the user is busy and not able to have medication, they can snooze the reminder for 10 minutes (by default), The User can change the snooze time from app settings.
- If the user can have the medication, It is important that he/she have the right medicine with the right instruction, especially in case of multiple medications.
- If the user ignores the reminder and does not select any action, the Reminder will repeat 3 more times, mark medicine as not taken in the schedule, and send a notification to the caretaker if assigned one.
Medication
Efficient management of medications helps in reducing confusion and developing comfort for using the app.
- Users can view the Medication schedule for active medications (with active reminders) and a list of all the present medications with active and inactive reminders in the list.
- Medication card includes medication identification information(Name, Picture, Strength), Available stock (if added), Reminder status, and an option to activate/deactivate all reminders for the medication. It makes it easier to do important things quickly without having to go through lots of steps.
- Opening the medication page shows all the information and further options related to medication like Edit, Share, Update, and Delete.
- The Edit Details option lets the user edit all the information related to medication. The information editable from this option is sensitive detail about the medication which can affect the dose and should come under new medication if needed to be changed. It should only be edited if there is some mistake.
- The user can also edit selected information such as Reminder, Schedule, or Prescription from within the page through the edit button present right above the details.
- The update prescription option lets the user change the details of the same medication in case of a change of strength or dosage and saves present details in medication history to keep medication records.
Assistance
This feature lets users of this app be a caretaker and dependents for fellow app users.
Card Iterations
This project has been a learning journey for me. I have learned many concepts and basics by doing and I guess it reflects best in these iterations.
Medication Card
Dependent’s Card
What did I learn from this project?
- Give adequate time and effort to conduct your research.
- Research about your research. Each step of research gives insights and direction about the next research step and how it should be conducted.
- Document everything and try to keep it organized.
- This project improved the way I empathize with people, and it deepened my understanding of the role psychology plays in making both major and minor decisions.
- Design visuals with logic and iterate until they look good.
- Don’t underestimate yourself, There may be many solutions to a problem but every mind thinks from different perspectives and can solve the same problem uniquely.
Thank you so much if you reach the end. 💛
This is my first product design case study. Please leave your feedback or suggestions in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you. If you found it helpful, please give it a clap.😊
I am currently open to Product Designer opportunities.
Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter. You can also contact me via Email (raavi.sehdev29@gmail.com).
