Before giving birth in a hospital, mothers are required to make numerous decisions about their labor, birth, and recovery and communicate those preferences to their healthcare providers. All too often, the existing method involves an outdated, poorly copied printout that fails to provide comprehensive information mothers can use to make informed decisions. To address this issue, I developed the Birth Plan.
This is a sophisticated resource aimed at efficiently documenting patient preferences while generating a convenient PDF version for them to bring along on the big day. The Birth Plan collects and shares the user’s choices with their healthcare provider to ensure that patient and provider expectations are aligned. Each section is thoughtfully designed with informative markers to empower expectant mothers with a better understanding of the options available to them.
I designed and developed this smart healthcare resource for patients who plan to give birth in a healthcare facility. My aim was to enhance their birthing experience by simplifying the collection of important choices and providing valuable information to aid their decision-making. I also saw a chance to showcase my proficiency in development, organizing and collecting data, and utilizing JavaScript and xAPI to streamline the data-gathering process.
I began by discussing patient and healthcare considerations with SMEs and researching medical websites and resources to create a style guide for my project. After my research, I created a fictitious healthcare provider complete with a logo and branding. I gathered feedback from my SMEs and professional network through several iterations. Below you will find a brief summary of each step I took with this project.
Initially, I chose line drawings for the design. After receiving feedback I opted for a photorealistic approach to impart a more personal feel. I added a progress bar for better user orientation, relocating it from its initial position on the left to the top to establish a clearer visual hierarchy with other screen elements.
While working on the visual design, I mapped out the project using Miro. A map is essential if the project branches out based on user interaction. The first branch occurs when a user selects a vaginal or cesarean birth. This choice will dictate changes in elements that occur later in the project, such as the choices presented to the user. This can get quite complex, so it's essential to track all the scenarios.
After finalizing the visual design, I brought the project into Storyline to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that could be shared with stakeholders. Building the MVP required implementing some complex logic using triggers, variables, and states to design the radio button and checkbox menus.
I integrated a JavaScript feature into The Birth Plan that allows users to download their choices in a convenient PDF which they can bring to the hospital on the big day for reference if they desire. The Birth Plan also collects and shares the user’s choices with their healthcare providers. Sharing patient preferences instantly aligns patient and provider expectations, eliminates common pain points in the birthing experience, and streamlines the outdated system of providing preferences via handwritten printout.
Once principal development was finished, it was time to add more custom code using xAPI to connect the resource to a Learning Record Store where I could collect and analyze user performance data. Important choices like pain management, comfort techniques, feeding preferences, and special instructions will be recorded in the database and accessible to healthcare providers. Analysis of this data could be used to improve patient care and direct resources in an efficient manner. This portion of the project is currently being tested and a summary will be posted here upon completion. Please check back for details.
I focus-grouped this project with several families in our network and received excellent feedback from parents as well as from my SMEs in healthcare. As the parents of three children, my wife and I would have loved to have had this as a resource in preparation for birth.
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