February 16, 2016

SummaCaren

iPad1-1

 

By collaborating closely with the Summa College and other significant stake holders we, a group of master industrial design students we tackled the wicked problem of how to motivate people take their medication.

A growth in the population of senior citizens is changing the demographic landscape of the Netherlands and putting the national healthcare system under pressure. As a result, the care standard of senior citizens is moving from full time nursing homes to part-time home-care. A trend in medication non-adherence in the home-care situation has been witnessed recently. In a joint effort to investigate this wicked problem, multiple student teams of the Eindhoven University of Technology together with different stakeholders in the health care system worked towards a system solution proposal using the design thinking process. In this process, user empathy was acquired by organizing workshops with student-nurses and interviewing senior citizens while concurrent ideation sessions were held with the team. Results from both were discussed and debated by the stakeholders, resulting in a platform of concepts to address medication non-adherence. The platform makes a distinction between an empathetic concept oriented towards the social interaction and atmosphere for a senior citizen in homecare and a practical concept to prevent lacking- or misinformation about medication use. The platform is designed from a contemporary elderly point-of-view where tangible products are valued above digital interventions while at the same time the platform is ready for the emerging digital generation.

 

AIR timeline

[Timeline of Nurses visit to seniors private residence understood from interviews]
 one  three
[Medicine cards organized in table top collection, personalized for clients medicine]

 

Our design solution consisted of a service system including a tabletop medicine card collection personalized to the senior’s personal medication plan and consisting of high level medical information to encourage information availability clarity. In addition the system includes personal feedback cards to support a seniors agency over their care plan and their relationship with professional and student care providers. When student care providers return to school after completing their internship these feedback cards will play an important part in their reflective activities. These same features would also be implemented on an online platform to ensure this system’s longevity for an increasingly computer-savvy senior population as well as to allow family support and insight where appropriate.

 

02-iPad-Air-Landscape-Mock-up

[The physical elements are also available online for an increasingly cyber literate senior population]

 

Project Duration:  September 2015 – October 2015
Team members:  Felix Ecke, Jeroen Hol, Florentijn Proost, Carlijn Valk, Bart Versteeg
Client:  Summa College
Read paper we wrote for Activating Your Innovation Radar
Grade: 8

 

 

 

In partnership with

 tue_logo copy  summacollege