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Medication Management Module
for Titan Smart World app

thumbnail Medication.png

HOW DID IT START?

Titan Company Limited, an iconic Indian watch brand, has recently expanded into the competitive smartwatch market. As part of this initiative, Titan set out to develop a medical-grade smartwatch featuring a robust medication management module.

This module integrates seamlessly across the smartwatch, mobile app, and web portal, ensuring a consistent and accessible user experience. Its key features evolved naturally throughout the development process.

INTRODUCTION

The Titan Smart World app connects all Titan smartwatches, but this project focuses on designing the experience for users of the new medical-grade smartwatch only.

We introduced a Medication Management module, exclusive to these users, offering medication tracking and reminders. Additionally, a web portal integration extends the app's functionality, providing a comprehensive approach to medication management.

The problem statement-
To design an experience that increases patients’ adherence to prescription medications in their daily routines by the use of a feature in an app and a smartwatch.

To understand the case study thoroughly, it's essential to know the following three user groups:

Owners of the smartwatch who manage their own medication via the app.

Users who, without owning the smartwatch, use the app to manage the medication of their loved ones (care seekers).

Users who own the smartwatch but have their medication managed mainly by caretakers or well-wishers, with minimal direct interaction with the app.

Individual Users

Caretakers/Well-wishers

Care Seekers

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Project goals from the user's perspective:

1. Promote Medication Adherence: Inspire users to remain consistent with their medication routines, leading to improved adherence.

2. Customisable Reminder System: Develop a flexible reminder system that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each patient.

3. Efficient Medication Management: Enable users to manage their medications effectively and effortlessly.

Project goals from the business's perspective:

1. Boost Engagement: Enhance user interaction with both the app and smartwatch to drive higher engagement rates.

2. Strengthen Brand Value: Elevate brand trust and value through effective product integration and user satisfaction.

THE PROCESS

Defining problem statement & goals 

Developing Solutions and Strategies

Escuting solution visually

  • Secondary research

  • Qualitative interviews

  • Insights analysis

  • Empathy mapping

  • Strategy

  • User flows

  • Information architecture

  • Ideations

  • Hi-fidelity Wireframes

  • Prototype

THE EMPATHY PHASE

To get a clear picture of our users, shape our strategy, and improve user flow,
we asked these key questions during user interviews to uncover their pain points:

  • What’s your current medication plan like?

  • How do you usually set up appointments with your doctor?

  • How do you go about filling or refilling your prescriptions?

  • How do you keep track of your dosage schedule?

  • Did you miss any doses during the clinical trial?

  • Did you end up taking more or less than prescribed?

  • Did you let your doctor or trial team know if you missed a dose?

  • Did you notice any new symptoms during the clinical trial?

  • Did you report any new symptoms to your doctor or trial team?

  • How do you feel about doctors or the clinical trial team keeping an eye on your medication log?

INSIGHTS FROM USER INTERVIEWS

  •  Patients frequently miss their medications due to busy or irregular schedules, affecting both occasional and regular medication routines.                                               

  • Managing multiple daily medications with specific instructions is challenging and often confusing for many patients.                                                                                          

  • Patients with conditions that don’t show active symptoms sometimes forget to take their medication because there’s no physical reminder.                                             

  • Some users miss doses because they forget to restock their medication once the current supply runs out.                                                                                                                  

  • Elderly patients often dislike frequent reminders from their caretakers and feel uncomfortable with excessive oversight.                                                                                      

  • Everyone has their own methods for remembering and managing their medication schedules, whether for themselves or their loved ones.

INSIGHTS FROM THE DESK RESEARCH

  • 77% of patients adhered to their medication regimen when it was aimed at curing a disease.

  • 63% of patients complied with preventive treatments.

  • Non-adherence rates vary from as low as 10% to as high as 92%.

  • Non-compliance is often due to patients being unaware of their non-adherence or finding the regimen too complex.

  • Enhancing medication adherence can help prevent severe relapses, antibiotic resistance, and avoidable hospitalisations.

  • 25% of litigation claims in general medical practice are related to medication errors.

PERSONAS

After completing the research phase, we listed all potential users for this project. By considering the three key user groups and their interactions with the watch and app, we created three detailed personas. These personas provided valuable insights that guided our design decisions moving forward.

ANALYSING PATTERNS AND USER NEEDS

We start by thoroughly reviewing all the insights to uncover common themes or patterns. These patterns encompass users' pain points, needs, preferences, behaviours, and other relevant factors.

DEFINING STRATEGY

We needed to develop a strategy that would address the problem statement: enhancing patients’ adherence to prescription medications in their daily routines through the use of a smartwatch and accompanying app. Our ideation process focused on crafting an experience that supports this goal effectively.

1. For the individual who owns the smartwatch and use the app - 

Smartwatch users who install the app can seamlessly track and manage their medication schedules. These users are the primary focus for whom this module is specifically designed.

2. For the well-wisher/ care-taker who do not own the smartwatch but can use the app -

Using the app, a well-wisher can manage a care seeker's medication, even without owning a smartwatch. They can install the app, which syncs seamlessly with the care seeker's app. This feature also presents a valuable business opportunity for the brand to promote other smartwatches through the caretaker's app.

3. For the well-wisher/ care-taker who own the smartwatch and can use the app- 

Due to age-related challenges with technology, their medication is often managed by caretakers or well-wishers. However, they can also manage their medications themselves if they choose. They will primarily interact with the smartwatch to receive reminders and log their medication intake.

THE SOLUTION

1. The onboarding

1. 1  The onboarding flow for the individual user

The scenario- 

The user has purchased a new smartwatch and installed the accompanying app. After completing the onboarding process by providing login credentials, the user has now arrived at the app's home screen. Key user low for this scenario would be-

obtwo.png

1. 2  To add the well wisher/ Caretaker

The scenario- 

Given that the medication module is a unique selling point (USP) for both the smartwatch and the app, it is strategically positioned within the app’s bottom navigation for easy access. On zero data screens, individual users and care seekers can quickly invite well-wishers via phone or WhatsApp through a dedicated quick-access option. The invitation link guides caretakers to install the app, enabling seamless collaboration in managing the user's medication.

Once a well-wisher is added, the "Add Well-Wisher" action button transitions to
"My Well-Wishers." From there, users can manage their well-wishers through the subsequent screens.

1. 3  The onboarding flow for the care-taker/ well wisher

The scenario- 

Upon receiving an invitation from a care seeker, the caretaker is prompted to install the app to help manage the care seeker’s medication.
This also presents a strategic opportunity for the business to promote the brand to caretakers who don’t own a Titan smartwatch.
While managing the care seeker’s medications, caretakers gain access to the care seeker’s full health data and can enjoy free content within the app, such as articles and music.

2. THE DASHBOARD

The main dashboard of the medication module functions as a day timeline, displaying all scheduled medications. Users can easily input or mark medications as taken directly on this timeline as they consume them.

medication dash.png

Dashboard of the medication module

The main dashboard of the app prominently features tiles for medication management, displaying the next four scheduled medications. Given its importance, medication management is strategically positioned on the main dashboard for quick and easy access.

Home screen of the main app

On the caretaker’s home screen, the app displays the upcoming medications for their care seekers. Additionally, an action button is provided to send reminders, ensuring the care seekers don't miss any doses.

Home screen of the main app for caretaker/Well wisher

3. ADDING THE PRESCRIPTION

We identified that adding prescriptions is the most critical aspect of the module, as medications can have varying consumption methods, frequencies, and schedules. Additionally, the diversity in medication types and administration methods further emphases the need for a flexible and comprehensive prescription input process.

Add prescription section

The add prescription module is designed to personalise the experience based on user input, presenting only the essential information at each step.

Users are guided through the process with a one-step-at-a-time approach, where additional inputs are provided on separate floating screens. Each subsequent input dynamically adjusts based on the user’s previous selections, ensuring clarity and preventing information overload.

Permutations and Combinations of Scheduled Medications

Input Screens for Each Data Field

Overlay screens are designed for step-by-step data input, allowing users to focus on one task at a time.

On the "Add Prescription" screen, all input fields are presented, but the overlay approach ensures that users aren't overwhelmed by the amount of information. This method simplifies the input process, making it more manageable and user-friendly.

Selecting the Medicine Type for Scheduling

The human-centered design approach:
We aligned the prescription scheduling process with the familiar pattern recognised by Indian users and commonly practiced by doctors. This approach mirrors the standard method of writing medication schedules based on the three daily meals, ensuring it feels intuitive and familiar to users.

Medication schedule format by Indian doctors

Medication schedule format in the module

Medication schedule format by Indian doctors
On digital platform like 'Practo'

Scheduled medicines representation in the module

4. CALENDARS & REPORTS

The calendar screen lets users view daily medication history, while the medication report screen provides insights into past prescriptions and medication history. Both screens streamline tracking and enhance medication management.

The design prioritises effortless navigation between daily logs and historical data, enabling users to track their medication with ease. Clear, intuitive visuals and organized data presentation ensure users can quickly understand and manage their medication regimen.

5. SMART WATCH INTERACTIONS AND APP WIDGETS

This section of the case study is under NDA

TAKEAWAYS

For a medical module in the Titan smartworld app, we learned a lot by interviewing and testing.

Few things I experienced while working on the project :

The time spent on research/interviews was quite insightful.
Storyboarding/Sketches/skeletal wireframes were super-helpful in understanding all the use cases.
I needed more time to showcase my secondary core skills: micro-interactions, animation, UI.
Adding Gamification can be an exciting approach to this. Like, recording data using the app while consuming tabs and earning points for benefits like discounts on insurance premiums and much more.

What would I do differently?
Using Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework to align user(s) goals with business goals in the early Define stage.

Usability Testing :
I could have done some A-B testing at multiple stages in the project, especially the steps which include the watch interventions but due to project timeline I could not do it.

Visual Design :
Time constraints led to compromises in visual design, especially in how medications were represented. To ensure consistency between the watch and app, we had to lower the image quality on the app due to the watch's display limitations."

Reflections:
Realistically, the medication management module requires significant time, effort, and collaboration to become a viable product. I’m concerned that working solo after the initial stages introduced biases. Involving the team and stakeholders throughout the entire project would help address uncertainties and clarify the most achievable goals.

Done is better than perfect :
Rather than getting caught up in overthinking and striving for perfection, I've learned the value of breaking down goals into manageable phases. This approach allows me to trust the process and focus on progress rather than second-guessing every decision. Any new challenges that arise become opportunities for improvement.

Above all, this experience has taught me the importance of balancing data, creativity, and empathy to create a meaningful impact, and I genuinely enjoyed the challenge it presented.

 

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