First hackathon, first win!
I was catching up with an old friend over a warm bowl of hotpot when he told me to join nwHacks at the University of British Columbia. At first, I was hesitant because this was my first design competition. However, with the school semester just getting started, I thought this was the perfect timing. Fast forward a few days later, I got together with a team of 5, build something cool, and we managed to place in the top 30!
The growing case of dementia in aging Canadian population
At the time, our team was passionate about healthcare, hence decided to base our project on that.
From our research, we found out that 1 in 4 Canadians over the age of 65 suffer from dementia.
Moreover, many of them overdose from not being able to remember their medication intake. They also require a high level of attention, which often result in family caregivers experiencing a burnout.
Hence, through this project, we wanted to ask:
How can we ensure accurate medication intake while easing caregiver responsibilities?
Nudge: A progressive mobile app connected to a smart pillbox
Our solution aims to provide an easy way for patients to take the medication correctly, and peace of mind for the family members, even from a distance.
A tale of two users
Family caregivers can use the mobile app to remotely schedule, update, and create reminders for the patient to take their medications.
Patients will receive reminders to take their medication.
Get notifications for any missed medications
With nudge, caregivers will instantly get notified for any missed medications, even when they are away from the patient.
As a response, caregivers can turn on the alarm reminder on the pillbox with ease, without having to get ahold of the patient by phone or text.
Manage medication reminders
Wherever you are, you can create, edit and delete medication schedule for the person that matters to you the most.
Medication details
Medications can sometimes be perplexing for caregivers due to their generic appearances and complex names.
With Nudge, you can effortlessly access information about each medication, including dosage, appearance, and schedule, providing clarity and peace of mind
Get notified when any medications have not been taken
Keeping track of progress
A very important yet often overlooked part of treatment is consistency and following the right schedule.
Nudge diligently stores all data, which can be leveraged by healthcare providers for more precise progress assessment. The intuitive dot diagram makes it easy to distinguish between days when medication was taken correctly and those when it wasn't.
Project timeline and roles
Since we only had 24 hours, as a team we divided the roles based on our expertise. Below is the breakdown of our design processes:
My Role:
I handled all aspects of the project's design, as well as leading the research process. This includes conducting secondary research from multiple case studies, ideation of the project, the UI/UX of the mobile application and prototyping.
Dementia individuals rely heavily on others
I conducted white paper research on early-stage dementia and caregiver experiences. In addition to being at risk of medication errors, they also loses their cognitive functions - challenging their ability to think, communicate and make decisions. Hence, they heavily depend on caregivers. This responsibility often falls on family members, who juggle their own lives, resulting in burnout, stress, and depression.
Refining our UX parameter
Based on our findings, here are the three parameters that our design must have:
- Ability to create & edit medication reminders
- Receive notification if medication isn't taken
- Provide data and track medication intake
Designing the user interface and building with React Native
With the three goals in mind, we started sketching what our interface would look like, and quickly prototype it in Figma to ensure there's enough time for our developers to build it.
Seamless synchronization: syncing pillbox reminders with Azure and Raspberry Pi
The developers in my team used Azure to host a nodeJS server. The server would read, write and edit the schedules and pillboxes. It would also decide when the next reminder is, and ask the Raspberry Pi to check.
On the other hand, the Raspberry Pi itself also hosts its own nodeJS server. It would respond to Azure server with a request to check if the pill had been taken, by executing a Python script that directly interfaced with the general purpose of input-output pins.
Below is a diagram to illustrate how it works:
The Raspberry Pi was positioned beneath the pillbox, utilizing a microswitch to control a programmed LED. The LED blinked as scheduled, ceasing upon pillbox opening (triggered by the microswitch). For LED placement, we creatively melted the pillbox using a scented candle. Below are the sketches outlining the microswitch positioning and pillbox-Raspberry Pi connection:
What's next for nudge?
We still have a lot of room for improvement! Given more time, we would definitely conduct a user interview and usability test, to ensure that our solutions are effective and applicable in the real world situation.
I would also like to explore how the design could accommodate for different symptoms and phases of dementia.
Nevertheless,
I learned a lot from this hackathon - how to manage our time wisely, how to communicate ideas effectively, and to always think critically.
This hackathon is very meaningful to me as it is my first hackathon – the one that sparked my joy of learning and the excitement to participate in competitions.
