THE STORY
Dr. Marie Barnett is a clinical psychologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who specializes in helping children with terminal illness, along with their caregivers. My objective is to help Dr. Barnett facilitate therapeutic interventions and conversations about concrete and abstract concepts with her patients, highlight key dialogue, and create moments of understanding along the journey of treatment and care.
THE OBJECTIVE
I created a "Pain map" application to help children communicate and discover the "biology of their pain through metaphor and visuals". Oww helps children understand the pain they are feeling and aid in communicating with their care takers. It is also a resource to record chronic pain and send directly to the child's doctor for their next appointment.
THE PROCESS
Competitive research: identify children's medical app and pain tracking apps available on the market.
- I found there were many children’s anatomy apps, private clinic record apps, and adult pain logs. These findings lead me to create an app that would be universally compatible with any hospital and clinic, inviting to children, but useful for both the doctor and the guardians.
Identified user needs through user story and personas
- Child: The child is the primary user. Since they are the ones interacting with the app most, I created an inviting interface and fun interactions.
- Adults: Guardians and doctors need a record to monitor the journey of the patients health when in care and discharged. This app provides a method to keep doctors and guardians on the same page.
Created user journey and flow map for information architecture.
- Pain points for child: being terminally ill is already overwhelming, now they must digest heavy amounts of information as well as convey what they are feeling.
- Pain points for guardians: overwhelmed with child’s care (procedures, medication, mental well-being, etc.), needed a place to keep records, stressed and anxious through the journey of illness.
- Pain points for doctors: must convey information between child and care takers. Must have as much information as possible to be able to help child and guardians.
PARENTAL FEATURES
There are three key parental features. The record file is a digital medical file for basic information needed for a doctor's visit. It is intended to keep all necessary medical documents on hand including: State ID, insurance card, and medical history. The dairy is a log that helps parents, guardians, and care takers keep track of the child's chronic pain. This log can be forwarded to the doctor for future visits. Lastly, there is an assisted call button to call the hospital or doctor in case of emergencies.
