Automatically tracking children’s medication

Challenge

Supporting parents with their children’s medication management.

Approach

Working with parents, we explored the reality and challenges of administering over-the-counter oral medication to children. We identified pain points and focused on medical device solutions that didn’t require changes to behavior or existing hardware. We developed a tiny, low-cost sensing solution that automatically tracks when and how much drug has been administered. An accompanying app presents the key information to the user at a glance.

Outcome

Using our medical device development expertise, we delivered a simple, intuitive, award-winning medication tracker that enhances the user experience and helps avoid medication errors. A connected syringe sends data to a smartphone app and presents parents with information about dosage, frequency and time to the next dose. The working prototype hardware and iOS application were delivered in 5 weeks.

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At a glance

Sector
Connected health

Services
Design sprint
UX/UI development
Software

 

Managing children's medication

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Managing a child’s medication is hard. Remembering precisely what medication has been given and understanding when it’s appropriate to administer the next dose remains an ongoing problem for parents and other caregivers.

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The problem

As parents, giving the correct dose and knowing when to administer the next one can be confusing, especially if more than one child is ill. We began the project with some ethnographic research to truly understand what would help parents. This user research identified the following unmet needs:

• Recording doses within a given time period
• Indicating time to next dose
• History of doses delivered
• Dose reminders
• Managing medication for multiple children
• Enabling inputs from multiple caregivers

We undertook a five day Design Sprint during which we explored various solutions. The aim of the sprint was to have a prototype that we could present to parents for user testing in just 5 days.

DefinitionDay 1

Day one focused on identifying the problem: what might parents struggle to remember? What dosage do they need for children of different ages?

IdeationDay 2

During day two we started ideation: we wanted to find a solution that did not require an add-on or extra step for the user.

CreationDay 3

We sketched the workflow of a smartphone app and identified key flows to test with users. The user interface (UI) was developed in Sketch® and brought to life in an interactive Flinto® prototype.

DevelopmentDay 4

By day four of our ‘design sprint’ we had something ready to test with users.

TestingDay 5

On day five we performed user studies and gathered feedback from parents. Results from user testing gave us confidence that the solution was both feasible and useful.

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It was crucial to get early feedback from parents to ensure the concepts met their various needs and to uncover more details about the context of use.

Charlotte Harris, Head of Front End Innovation, Team Consulting
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The technology

From our design sprint, we had confidence in our concept and started to develop custom printed circuit boards to fit into the center of the plunger. Our design relied on adding magnetic strips to the body of a syringe in place of the dose markings, which are read by a magnetometer to log dose volume. A low-current accelerometer triggers the Bluetooth transmitter to pair with a phone only when needed, thereby maximizing the life of the integrated battery. Most of the processing is undertaken directly on the circuit board, rather than on the phone’s processor, for a more robust and secure solution.

Our connected app

We wanted to provide a clean UI to give users only the necessary information without additional clutter. The core UI focuses on just one child at a time, while additional layers are available without being essential to gain value from engaging with the app. This focused approach ensures information is easy to digest and reduces the risk of use errors.

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Automatically record each dose MagicPol automatically detects and logs each dose administered and can remind users when it’s okay to give the next one.

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Keep track of dose history and symptoms
Easily view the dosage history for each child and record their temperature and other conditions while they’re unwell.

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Get notified without opening the app Doses are automatically pushed to the phone via Bluetooth, appearing on the lockscreen as a rich notification.

Outcome

We built a working prototype in 5 weeks, starting with an initial concept to build a 6mm wide custom PCB to a detail design, app prototype and early iteration of iOS developed app. The syringe automatically tracks when and how much drug has been administered, all critical data processing is performed by the embedded software and sent via Bluetooth to the user’s phone. The app presents key information in a simple and intuitive interface, with greater depth of features available for users who choose to engage. The smart syringe and mobile app work together seamlessly to create a simple intuitive system that enhances the user experience and avoids medication errors.

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