Abridged presentation of WebMD Total Care mobile app, a UX design project featured on http://www.bendedrick.com

1. Design by: Ben Dedrick and Meghna Dholakia
Student Project. General Assembly UXDI Winter 2013
Total Care
Total Care Bedside
&

2. About the Product:
WebMD Total Care is a web application and companion mobile app for patients with acute
medical conditions who need a reliable, easily accessible source of information and
support during their recovery. It can work with or without direct input from care providers
to provide symptom and diagnosis information, medication reminders, recovery progress
tracking, and a persistent record of your medical history. Through the mobile app, these
features are available anywhere, and empower patients to stay on top of their own
recovery by knowing exactly what to expect, as well as what potential warning signs to
look for.
About the Project:
Total Care is a new product system designed by two students based in San Francisco,
CA. The assigned objective was to increase WebMD’s user acquisition and retention by
creating a health profile tool that collects users’ health information and provides
personalized suggestions.
The team was also given the constraint of choosing either a responsive web-only
implementation, or a web and native mobile implementation of this project.
Total Care

3. Liz has a sore throat
that won’t go away.
She checks her symptoms with
WebMD Total Care and suspects
that she may have tonsilitis. She’s
able to easily book an appointment
with her physician through her
Dashboard.
Her physician diagnoses her with
tonsilitis and prescribes Amoxicillin.
She also recommends WebMD
Bedside to help Liz track her
recovery and answer any questions
she may have after her visit.
💻Liz’s physician enters her diagnosis
and prescription into her practice’s
EHR system, which also populates
to Liz’s WebMD profile.
⌂At home the next day, Liz realizes
she still has some questions about
her medication’s side effects, but
she’s not sure whether to try to get
in touch with her doctor. Lacking
the energy to deal with the
problem, Liz tries to ignore her
doubts and get some rest.
That afternoon, WebMD Bedside notifies Liz that
it’s time for her daily check-in. By answering a
few quick questions, Liz learns that the pain
she’s been experiencing in her stomach is a
common side effect of her prescription; she gets
some tips to help minimize the discomfort, and
she knows what warning signs to look for in case
of a reaction to her medication.
Liz’s daily check-ins keep her feeling informed
and secure throughout the recovery process,
without the hassle of trying to stay in touch
with her doctor. She completes the course of
her antibiotics, and before she knows it, Liz has
made a full recovery!
High-Level Flow

4. Prototype

5. Competitive Analysis
Findings
Existing health tools generally attempt to address one of three
areas: prevention, diagnosis, or condition management/recovery.
Prevention is saturated with feature-heavy tools, and is heavily
fragmented between various devices and services.
Diagnosis is WebMD’s current wheelhouse. Of those who use
the Internet for diagnostic information, the vast majority use
WebMD, or run Google searches that lead them to WebMD.
Management holds a number of somewhat niche applications
targeted toward extremely specific chronic conditions.
Opportunities Identified
Largest gap: Recovery. There are no major tools for helping
people manage their recovery from acute illnesses.
Because of its ubiquity as a resource for diagnostic information,
WebMD is in a unique position to provide value to users who are
essentially already at the first step of the recovery process for
acute illness.
diagnosis
Management
Prevention
Diagnosis

6. User Research
Methods
Two Web-based surveys (~40 responses total) examining usage of various health tracking systems,
and four semi-structured follow-up interviews.
Key Findings
– Aggregating existing health tracking services isn’t feasible.
Respondents reported using a panoply of such devices and services, and 60% of respondents
didn’t use any at all.
– Most users who had visited medical resource sites like WebMD in the past
indicated that advice about relieving specific symptoms was important
to them. Diagnostic information and general health information/news articles were
also popular reasons for visiting.
– The vast majority of those surveyed stated that they only used resources
like WebMD a few times per year. Very few users actually visit daily or
multiple times per week, and those users typically seek news articles or
general health information.
– People generally trust the information they receive.
Of those respondents who found medical information through sites like WebMD,
95% rated the information as “Moderately trustworthy” or better.
(Zero respondents reported that they considered the information they received to
be “Not at all trustworthy.”)
5%
80%
5%
5%
5%
Once per year or less.
A few times per year.
Monthly.
Several times per week.
Daily.
How often do you consult sites
like WebMD for medical information?

7. User Research
Further Findings
– Respondents were lukewarm about their knowledge of/access to their
medical records.
– 25% (!) of respondents do not complete their antibiotic regimens as prescribed.
– 40% felt that they were not adequately supported after leaving their doctor’s office.
Opportunities Identified
– Motivate return visits by finding ways to continue providing value after the initial diagnostic/symptom research phase.
– Provide easy access to persistent health records.
– Promote adherence to prescribed medication regimens through reminders and detailed treatment information.
– Act as an “always-there” guide and source of support for users who need tailored medical information after leaving
their doctor’s office.

8. Ben Dedrick
bdedrick@gmail.com
For more information about the research and design
processes for this and other projects:
CONTACT ME