Digital Maternity Pass
UX Conception
The digital maternity pass is a cross-device app concept for a digitized document, which is designed as a supplement to the electronic health record
See resultsWhat I've learned
UX Conception
The digital maternity pass is a cross-device app concept for a digitized document, which is designed as a supplement to the electronic health record
See resultsWhat I've learned"Deep Dive: Digitaler Mutterpass" was a project seminar by Prof. Daniel Braun at the Münster School of Design (MSD) in cooperation with vitabook GmBH in the winter semester 2018/2019.
Vitabook was a start-up from Hamburg that was founded to network the healthcare system. Vitabook's mission was to support the self-determined patient in communicating with the doctor and pharmacy on an equal footing and thus prevent fatal mistakes in treatment that are based on a lack of information.
The goal of the seminar was to develop an adequate digital solution for the german maternity pass that already exists in paper form and to offer added value for the user groups through a user-centered approach. For this purpose, the participants of the seminar were accompanied by the phases of understanding and empathy of design thinking under the guidance of Prof. Braun. These phases were elaborated collectively by the participants of the whole seminar. The design solutions were subsequently elaborated in three small groups. I was mainly involved in UX conception, but the responsibilities in our group were not clearly separated.
Every mother-to-be in Germany receives the maternity pass as soon as a pregnancy is diagnosed. This is used to record health data and medical examinations. The pass allows a more appropriate response in emergencies, but also serves as documentation for later pregnancies.
At the beginning of the seminar, we defined the task, our user groups, usage situations and the value to be achieved. We divided it into the four corresponding points:
After getting an idea of the project, we all examined the current maternity pass together to understand the contents of the document. We looked specifically for questions of understanding that we could clarify in the further course of the seminar.
With an impression of which groups of people are involved, we conducted qualitative user interviews on the current maternity pass with the following groups of people:
Empathy maps were created based on the results of the user interviews. Easily identifiable needs and insights from the interviews were already recorded in notes, when the interviews were conducted.
Afterwards, we collected the highlights of each interviewee as motivations, surprises, contradictions and similarities to other interviewees, which enabled us to compare different perspectives.
The empathy maps gave us clues for formulating Point of Views and How might we questions. As a result, we defined challenges that we could potentially solve designing a digital maternity pass.
"Midwives are not sufficiently included in the maternity pass".
An emotionally involved midwife needs more involvement in the healthcare system because she wants to provide the pregnant woman with the best possible support in addition to medical care.
How might we enable expectant mothers to receive the most comprehensive and informative care possible through the maternity pass?
"From a legal point of view, the maternity pass itself cannot be changed at all. What you can offer as a digital pass would be a one-to-one transmission."
A gynecologist who is skeptical about digitization needs easy and quick access to patient information to ensure safe treatment.
How might we ensure quick access to digital patient information for a secure treatment foundation?
"The digital health record is long overdue in Germany."
A young, open-minded doctor assistant needs a central, uniform system reduced to relevant data because his work should be made easier and access to patient information should be secured.
How might we create a uniform system that is quickly understandable for all users?
"The maternity pass is in technical jargon and you ask yourself: What does that mean in retrospect? Then you do research on the internet and it's like: You have a dark mole – you have cancer."
A mother actively documenting her pregnancy needs reliable, understandable, always available information regarding the pregnancy because she wants to be certain of her child's condition at all times.
How might we use the maternity pass to relieve mothers of as many worries about pregnancy as possible?
In our group, we decided to use the How Might We questions to set up holistic criteria that our later prototype should meet. In this way we had the basis for assessment on which to make success measurable.
Looking at the results of user research, we came up with three different accesses with different permissions:
In order to plan the information architecture of the desktop and mobile app, our group created initial versions of sitemaps, which evolved over the course of the project:
Within the semester project we were able to conduct usability tests for desktop app and mobile app. We have build prototypes for this. We were able to observe the participants testing the mobile app via transmission from a test room, and during the test of the desktop app we were allowed to look over the shoulder of a midwife in her practice.
Taking into account all the results of the user research and the usability test, we came up with the following solutions for desktop access (doctors, midwives, etc.) and mobile app access (mothers-to-be).
When opening the app daily, the pregnant woman can provide an update on her current mood and health status on a voluntary basis. This data is available to doctors, midwives and other specialists via desktop access.
The dashboard is the app's home screen, where all important information is visible at a glance: child's data, appointments, medication plan.
An animated depiction of the child pays into the emotional relationship between the mother-to-be and her child. The content of the dashboard can be customized.
Useful information about the current developmental status of the child can be viewed under this tab. The size of the child is compared with the size of different types of fruit.
In addition, past and current ultrasound images can be viewed and shared with friends.
This area contributes to the strong emotional need to be able to understand the development of the child.
This tab contains all information about the mother's health: medication, tracked data, test results, etc. The maternity pass' content can be found here as well.
The view is tailored to the mother-to-be and contains explanations of the values viewed in the maternity pass.
In the advisor section the mother-to-be can ask her questions and get her answers from reliable sources in the form of articles by health experts. In this way, she is provided with security through a secure source of information. The presentation of an avatar is intended to create a more personal impression.
When opening the desktop app, doctors and midwives receive an overview with the most important and up-to-date information about the patient. This view can also be called up afterwards within the app.
The start page of the desktop app already offers direct access to the categories of the maternity pass in a structure comparable to that of the printed document. The advisory tab is an add-on for the midwives, so their care is more involved and documented.
The sidebar can also be used to call up the due date in the calendar, a list of all treating doctors and midwives, and other documents that are not directly related to the maternity pass.
The search bar links to relevant pages in the maternity pass by entering a keyword. A calendar for all participants, an activity log of the persons involved and a message function can be called up in the upper right corner. In the activity log, all treating persons can see when there are new entries and who made them.
The individual categories of the maternity pass are shown in tabs. For assuring clarity, only the information is displayed where entries were being made. For improved communication among each other, it is possible for treating persons to leave annotations in the form of comments.
The gravidogram is an essential part of the maternity pass and shows the current state of health of mother and child. For clarity, only the last four health checks are displayed in compact columns, further examinations can then be traced back via a carousel.
The child's ultrasound images are added to the desktop app by treating persons. These are synchronized and made available to the mother-to-be in the mobile app.
This area is mainly used to involve the midwives' care more closely in the maternity pass. On the one hand, the data listed here is collected via the daily update in the mobile app, on the other hand, entries can be made here by the treating persons.
In this seminar, we had the opportunity to apply common methods of design thinking to empathize with the topic and users. In this way, we had set the foundations for conceptual work to be done in smaller groups.
During conception, I have particularly learned to unite interests of the stakeholders' different perspectives. Conflicts of interest generally make conceptual work difficult, but I think we have reached a good balance in our design solution.
Within the project, my group focused on the conception, so that the visual design was created alongside. With more time, the design could have been improved visually. With such projects in particular, you learn to weigh up which priorities you should set in the available time.