Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
UX Research Project
Roles & responsibilities
Research plan
Development of research question
User interviews; task-flow oriented Participatory design
Research paper & presentation
Methods
Participatory Design
Affinity Diagramming
User Interview
Contextual Interviews
Team
Dave Kennedy
Kellie Dunn
Kyle Witt
Kris Everson
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Executive Summary
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS):
The Pugicorn Smart Bag was created through a participatory design session to help our participant with POTS manage all of their medications with ease.
Pugicorn Smart Bag
POTS:
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) or is a form of dysautonomia, which is a term for disorders of the autonomic nervous system.
POTS is primarily characterized by a drastic heart rate increase upon standing up. Blood vessels are too relaxed, & the autonomic nervous system doesn’t properly control blood pressure or heart rate. This disorder is secondarily characterized by complex symptoms which may include (but are not limited to) low blood volume, neuropathy, fatigue, headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness, palpitations, fainting, shaking, chest pain, shortness of breath, digestive problems, feelings of anxiety, and blood pooling in the lower extremities.
Travel is a challenge for people with POTS because routines are harder to maintain away from home. It can be stressful to carry & keep track of personal devices & medications, especially with security screening & the possibility of needing replacements for forgotten items. Travel restrictions also made it difficult for our participant to carry enough water and the right kinds of food.
Solution:
The solution derived from our research methods encompasses a “makeup bag” style organizer for meds, small devices, and other small items. This bag would fit in a backpack, carry-on bag, or large purse. It has a companion app ‘Pugicorn’ that activates dynamic labels on the pockets, according to the packing list generated by the user in the app. When a pocket is filled, the light above that pocket turns off, and the app reflects the corresponding item as “packed.”
The ‘smart bag’ is able to identify inserted medications through RFID tags. Information contained in the RFID tag such as drug name, dosage, instructions, pharmacy information, etc., is transmitted to the companion app.
The companion app allows our participant to ensure the proper medications are in the bag and easily access detailed information about each medication. We also incorporated a friendly Pug that is also a Unicorn because we knew that our participant likes Pugs and Unicorns. Oh yeah, and they’re fun!
Pugicorn Companion App