Boston Children Hospital
ALS App
About Project
Client
Boston Children’s Hospital Augmentative Communication Program provides comprehensive augmentative communication and assistive technology assessments, trials, and training to people with ALS from the time of diagnosis throughout their lifespan.
The Project goal is to support communication and daily functional needs, sustain personal control and dignity, facilitate continued social and vocational goals, and maintain quality of life through thoughtful implementation of solutions ranging from high technology to quick-access/low tech tools and strategies. This is best accomplished by providing support to a person with ALS and their family.
Project Statement
The project for Boston Children’s Hospital focuses on creating a tool to assist patients with ALS and their clinicians in making informed clinical decisions. The tool aims to provide a guided system that constantly updates with the latest information and offers various clinical options for ALS treatment and management. The goal is to empower both patients and clinicians by providing them with a resource that allows them to explore the best possible options throughout the disease's progression, facilitating improved communication and decision-making.
Role
UI / UX Designer , Market Researcher
Timeline
ongoing (Pass to next year students)
Design Challenge
Personalized User Experience for a Diverse Audience
Designing a user-friendly interface that caters to both ALS patients, who may have varying levels of physical and cognitive abilities, and clinicians, who need efficient access to up-to-date clinical information. Balancing the simplicity required for patients with the depth of information needed by clinicians could pose a significant challenge.
Dynamic Information Update System
The tool needs to constantly update with the latest clinical options and resources. Designing a system that can integrate new information seamlessly without overwhelming the user, while ensuring accuracy and relevance, is a key challenge.
Accessibility for ALS Patients
Ensuring the platform is accessible for patients with ALS, who may have varying degrees of physical and cognitive impairments, requires thoughtful consideration of user interface design, including speech-based controls, simplified navigation, and assistive technologies
Context
This project is a capstone project of the Boston University Spark! UX Design X-Lab Practicum
This project is being developed in collaboration with BU IT students, and it will be passed on to the next semester's students for further refinement and completion.
People with ALS around the world are not offered a variety of clinical options. There are dozens of opportunities for what could be the most beneficial option to them, but are usually only offered a few. The goal is to take clinical decision making and turn it into a tool that allows ALS patients to look at options and discuss them with their clinician (I have questions about a, b, and c). This tool/guide will allow people with ALS and clinicians/clinics to collaborate in the process of identifying best options throughout the disease process.
" How can we design an accessible tool that helps ALS patients and clinicians make informed treatment decisions? "
App Key Features
Survey-Based Recommendations
A status survey within the app helps route patients to the most relevant solutions and resources based on their current condition.
Communication Flow and Bookmarking
Ensures that patients receive up-to-date solutions and allows them to save their progress mid-survey, providing flexibility in their interaction with the app.
My Resources Page and Save Feature
Consolidates all saved resources and recommended articles into a dedicated page for easy access, enabling patients to reference important information at any time.
Human-Centered Language
Consolidates all saved resources and recommended articles into a dedicated page for easy access, enabling patients to reference important information at any time.
Admin Portal for Content Management
Allows admins to intuitively reorder questions and update content within the app without needing technical support, enhancing the flexibility of managing information.
Timeline
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User Stories
01
As a patient, I want to have the most up-to-date solutions for questions I may have so that I can be sure I am receiving relevant and researched treatments.
02
As a clinician, I want to have the most up-to-date solutions for questions so that I am giving the proper treatment for my clients' problems.
03
As a patient, I want to be able to save the resources and articles I’m recommended in the application so that I can access them at a future date.
04
As an admin, I want to be able to edit the ordering of questions along with the content in an intuitive and easy manner so that I can manage the application
User Flow
Design System
Final Design
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