Problem

Non-english speakers rely on family

Non-english speakers struggle to find a doctor, correspond with mail, and understand bills. At any point in this process, these parents need to repeatedly rely on close friends or family.

Audience

And they aren’t flexible

First generation parents are ages 45-60. At this age, it is unlikely for language aqcuisition to occur through full immersion. It would be unfair to ask them to change for the system rather than the other way around.

Goals

Maintaining a Relationship

Non-english speakers expressed desires to reduce dependance, increase transparency about their healthcare, and feel acknowledged by a system that currently does not. I wanted patients to feel empowered to complete tasks alone.

Competitive Analysis

Tweaking the Market

Products already exist to solve issues of finding a doctor, maintaining communication, and paying bills but they can be improved by breaking down language barriers and focusing on elements important to a non-english speaker.

Ideation

Initial Directions

My first idea was to assign a translator or “buddy” that would shift responsibility from uninformed family members to professionally trained helpers. I was inspired to by the likes of Klara, 7Cups, BlahTherapy, and other mental health services.

Feedback

I got feedback that while this idea taps into an overlooked audience, it would be good to look into the amount of effort required by the translator. Services like 7Cups also face the problem of delayed responses so I pivoted to an automated direction.

Styleguide

Nutrition

Taking care of one’s health happens outside the doctor’s office. I was inspired by healthy eating habits, wellness, and peace. Green was the optimal color for this.

Deliverables

Final Solutions

The final solutions I came up with focused on actions taken by the patient themselves rather than depending on a translator whose response times may vary.

Results

Testing with Users

While many of these interactions did pass through, I had points of both confusion and success. I am excited to see the potential opportunities of this project.

Takeaways

3 Sided Business

Even though I identified the use case of an assigned translator to be full of human errors, I felt there was opportunity in the chatting experience to fully engage the patient and make them feeling welcome. In addition, what would the doctor’s use cases look like?

Tablets

Tablets are more ideal for users older than 60+ because of real estate and a direct finger to tap relationship, however they are more luxurious purchases. If this project were scaled, I would definitely explore scaled system components.

Metrics

Hypothetical

If this were real, I would pay close attention task success rates like forms completed and bills paid as well as newly acquired patients and a decrease in appointment dropoffs from the doctors.