Endoctor

UX/UI - iOS - 2021

How I designed a mobile application designed to help those suffering from endometriosis finding health professionals understanding of their problems.

I chose to explore the problems caused by endometriosis because it is a chronic condition that is not talked about enough. In Australia, 1 in 9 women suffer from endometriosis with an average time for diagnosis of 6.5 years. Unfortunately during all these years, the symptoms worsen.

ROLE
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‍Sole UX Designer: User Research, Iteration, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing

PROJECT TIMELINE
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6 weeks

THE PROBLEM
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Those who are suffering from endometriosis, feel worried and stressed when looking for resources and health professionals and want to understand and live with their chronic condition but are lacking accurate and reliable information.

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

I conducted diverse research methods to try and understand the problem as much as I could.

SURVEY INSIGHTS
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This allowed me to get some demographic data as well as validate the problem I had previously identified.

91.2%
experience medium to high stress due to their endometriosis

89.4%
said it has an impact on their life

66.1%
found finding a health professional medium to very difficult

1:1 INTERVIEWS
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The 1:1 Interviews were very challenging, as it wasn’t an easy thing to talk about - it is a very intimate subject and has a big impact on their lives. I am so grateful they felt like they could confide in me.

I found out that:
- The diagnosis isn’t the end of the journey for them - it is a relief to know what had been happening to them, but they struggle with different issues such as endless medical appointments and surgeries and fertility issues which causes a lot of stress due to the guilt they feel towards their partner.
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- It impacts their everyday life, it is always on the back of their mind, no matter what symptom they experience. It impacts their future as well as those around them.

KEY INSIGHTS

- Their medical experience was the thing to focus on: because the long diagnosis does years of damage to their body.

- It often takes trying several health professionals before finding the one that will listen to them and understand them.

- Even after getting diagnosed, they need to find specialists - for fertility purposes, as well as trying different surgeries in the hope of minimizing the symptoms.

- Finding a health professional is not just about finding a gynecologist. It is about finding a GP, a gynecologist, a women’s physiotherapist, a dietician, a pilates instructor, a neurologist and so many more in the hope of making their lives easier.

FINDING SOLUTIONS

IDEATION WORKSHOP

I facilitated an hour-long ideation workshop to help find solutions for the personas. The 5 participants came out with different ideas thanks to an initial brainstorming, a crazy 8, and a dot voting to finish the session. It was very valuable having participants from a different background that could look at the problem with a fresh eye. The crazy 8 was particularily interesting as it helps coming up with ideas we wouldn’t have thought about in a more traditional brainstorming.

Emily's situation is urgent. She has been experiencing symptoms for a couple of years, and the longer it takes her to get diagnosed, the worse her condition will get. She needs to find an endometriosis-educated health professional as soon as possible. This led me to ask the participants of the ideation workshop the following question:

How might we find health professionals that don’t marginalise the pain so that Emily can get a quick diagnosis and an appropriate treatment?

USER FLOW

I quickly started regrouping ideas and imagining a user flow that would allow Emily and Amanda to easily search health professionnals. The main challenge was that it had to be easy and quick to use, as the last thing they would want to do while experiencing symptoms is searching for hours for a practionner.

FEATURES

SPECIALISTS

Emily and Amanda can look for a specialist, as they need to see different types of practitioners. While Emily might focus on a GP and a gynaecologist for now, Amanda can look for a fertility specialist that she will be able to book to know more about IVF.

REVIEWS

The main feature allows to read reviews about the practitioner. Emily and Amanda feel reassured when they know other women that have gone through the same issues and have had a good experience.
Emily and Amanda can also leave a review of past appointments from the app and help other future patients.

USER TESTING

I conducted some testing with a couple of Emily and Amanda.

Feedback

- They liked the simplicity of the app
- They liked being able to find practitioners by specialty.
- They wished they could have a video appointment option for practitioners that are not in their area.
- They would have also liked to be able to find their previous reports and results in the app, so the health professionals could also access them easily.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This project was very special to me, as it is a serious issue that doesn't have an effective treatment. Too many young women haven't heard of endometriosis when they start experiencing symptoms and feel very unsure and confused when they come across practitioners that are not very understanding of it. They experience a lot of stress and pressure, and while I am not able to them in a medical way.

In a near future, I would like to conduct more testing on the current prototype, as I struggled finding participants in such a short amount of time and I am also planning in developing the prototype so that Amanda could be able to easily manage her numerous bookings.