MediVision
MediVision was an experimental UI project done as part of a research-focused studio. Over several weeks it evolved from a self-diagnostic tool into an image-focused pain tracking system for patients, nurses, and doctors. To me, the strength of this project really lies in its process. So I'm taking this space to highlight everything including my missteps and mistakes.
Year
2021
Research & Experimentation
At first, the idea was that pain sufferers could use phone AR tools to compare their symptoms to those aligned with certain conditions. I chose carpal tunnel for that, because hand tracking tech is pretty good and the type of pain is relatively easy to describe. This video to the right is me learning to implement hand tracking software for this purpose. However, interviews revealed to me that self-diagnostic tools are dangerous and a huge liability!
Research into how doctors communicate pain was huge. In my interviews, I learned that most hospital doctors are diagramming body parts on the fly and hoping the info takes (example below). I also learned that pain symptoms are poorly communicated between medical professionals. The nurse might understand, but their ability to communicate to other staff is very limited.
project demo
The UI here is kind of a mess, but is just meant to illustrate the basic functionality. These were rapid iterations.
In this scenario, a user suffering from numbness and a shooting pain in their hand, has scheduled a doctor's appt. The user scans their hand into the app, then maps the pain symptoms onto the 3d model.
This pain tracking model can then be checked by the nurse, and transferred to the attending doctor. It can be modified by office or hospital staff, and supplemented with their notes.
Interviews after this mockup were promising, with many noting the implications it could have for harder to describe pain, such as chronic pain. What if users could do this daily, tracking something like back or hip problems?
Note to the Reader
This work has evolved a lot and become my graduate thesis! The functionality and objective have changed a lot, but expect updates to this work in the coming months.
The thesis is focused on chronic migraine sufferers, and I am creating tools to aid patient self-advocacy in clinical environments. Some of the core questions are the same: How can we do better to communicate and understand subjective experiences of pain?