39% of Americans over the age of 65 take five or more medications.

The cost of hospital admissions related to medication adherence is estimated at $100 billion annually.

Nearly 13% of hospital patients experience an adverse drug event after discharge.

1/5 of medication doses in American healthcare facilities may be administered in error.

Medication Compliance 
Simple medication schedules can be difficult to follow for patients. If medication is taken at the wrong time, or not at all, it can affect patient health and wellbeing. 

Uncoordinated Patient Care 
There is a recurring pattern that shows it is difficult for patients to keep track of medications prescribed to them by different providers. 

Too Much To Remember 
Patients with chronic medical conditions and ones who have been recently discharged from facilities often have difficulty keeping track of complex medication regimens. They are usually the ones most affected by missed doses and most at-risk for drug reactions.

We used this analysis chart to assess where we would want to fit in, and how we would differentiate ourselves.

It was most important for us to reduce clutter, as that was a noticeable complaint when we tested competing products on users. 

When observing how patients used the products, we also focused on the tone used and how the language made them feel. We wanted our patients to feel as unintimidated as possible.

Steve never took medication in his live other than antibiotics when he was sick. He is now on three new medications: Zoloft (Sertraline), Prozac (Fluoxetine), and Effexxor (Venlafaxine).

He needs to feel in control of his schedule, and in further control of his life.

Frustrations:
- Often gets lost in research, loses track of time
- Does not love taking medications because he experiences nausea

Dan views his growing list of ailments as a huge interruption to his daily life. He is on three medications for different issues: NSAIDs to relieve lower back pain, muscle relaxants (cycloenzaprine) for muscle soreness and Warfarin, a blood thinner for clots.

He needs to remember that there is an interaction between two of his medications, so he cannot take them at the same time.

Frustrations
- Overwhelmed by regimen
- Does not want to take his medications and has a hard time remembering to take them

Carrie is the caretaker of father, Paul, who also has Type II diabetes, and was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s related dementia. Carrie takes Glutemza (Metformin) for her diabetes. Paul is prescribed Glutemza (Metformin) for his  diabetes, Aricept (Donepazil) for Alzheimer’s, various NSAIDs for headache management.

She needs to set alarms on her phone to manage her fathers’ and her own medication schedules, as well as for the kids’ sometimes.

Frustrations:
- Finds it difficult to remember everybody’s schedules and what medications they need to be taking when

Some user stories we used:

• As a Dan, I want reminders that are not so annoying because I already think it’s frustrating to have to take medication in general.

• As a Dan, I want options for different times of day to take my medication, because I can’t take them all at once due to drug interactions.

• As a Steve, I want to be able to snooze my medication reminders because I might be busy at the time I receive the notification, and ignore it.

• As a Steve, I want to learn about my medications because I want to understand side effects I may experience.

• As a Steve, I want a way to use the application without being required to sign up, so nobody can steal my data and I don’t have to fully commit yet.

With our user stories, we created a sitemap to figure out where features should live within the application. We decided that Carrie’s stories would be better addressed in a future phase post MVP launch.

Taken or Skipped?
The most important function the application could have is the ability for the patient to record whether or not they took their medications, and that their push notification reminders worked.

Minimize the Steps
Since the patients could note their compliance within the notification, instead of needing to tap into the application, the friction of having to take the medication or mark that they took it in the first place would be minimized.

Snooze but Don’t Lose
The snooze function gives the patients a sense of control over their schedules, so the notifications do not feel too disruptive.

A. Time of Day
We A/B tested the vocabulary (Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Bed Time) and icons until we reached the strongest results. 

B. Menu Bar and History Feature
Through user testing, we also learned that a History section, educating patients on their past compliance would not be a necessity to build out during the MVP phase. We decided it would be better to revisit that feature in a future phase.

C. Steps in Progress
Users expressed that they liked knowing how many steps were required to onboard to start receiving reminders, because if there were too many steps, they would abandon the process.

D. Schedule Bar
When watching users interact with the onboarding process, they had a difficult time understanding how to set up their reminders and that they were able to adjust the period of time they received reminders for. This took many iterations to come up with a feasible solution.

A. Medication Autocomplete
Through the NIH, we were able to use an autocomplete function to speed up accuracy and efficiency of a patient’s experience adding their medications. 

B. Actual Medication Icon
The NIH also has images for essentially every single medication. We imported these, so the patient would recall exactly what their medication looks like. This is especially useful in scenarios where patients need to remember multiple medications they take daily. 

C. Learning More
Patients have accurate, up to date information directly from the NIH about their medication, as well as its known side effects, interactions and warnings. They are also advised to call their health provider if they are experiencing serious adverse events.

Less is More
We went with a mostly blue and cool gray color scheme with gold highlights. We wanted the medications to be the highlight as compliance was our main goal.

Accessibility
With our color choices, we consistently checked to make sure the color choices would work for all types of patients.

Minimal Navigation
We kept our bottom navigation simple to keep patients on track to either mark that they took their medications, or to learn more about what they were prescribed. We highlighted whichever feature they were using and the date on the calendar icon reflected the day of that month.