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Utkarsh Singh.
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Physmate:
Smart Goniometer App for Physiotherapists

Design Case Study
Physmate App UI Mockups

Overview

Physiotherapists use goniometers to measure patients’ joint range of motion (R.O.M.) — a manual, time-consuming, error-prone process.

So, we designed Physmate—a smart goniometer app that utilizes smartphone sensors for accurate measurements. It simplifies R.O.M. measurements, allowing therapists to focus on patient care.

Team: 4
Duration: 4 weeks
My role: Interviews, UX Design, Prototyping & Stakeholder Presentation

Try out the Interactive Prototype I made. 👉🏼

The Problem

“It feels like we spend more time doing paperwork than actually tending to patients.”, said a physiotherapist we interviewed.

Problem Statement

Dr. Erica, a busy physiotherapist needs to record quantitative data regarding her patients’ recovery. But, it takes away too much of her time because she records and compiles the data manually.

Users and Audience

  • Primary user: Physiotherapists, who are responsible for helping people affected by injury, illness or disability through movement and exercise, manual therapy, education and advice.
  • Secondary user: Patients, who will benefit from the efficient assessment process provided by Physmate.
  • Audience: Physiotherapy clinics and hospitals where physiotherapy is practiced.
User persona of Dr. Erica, a physiotherapist.

Research

Methodology

  • Interviews – 2 Physiotherapists & 3 Patients
  • Secondary Research – Technology Research Papers & Ontario Healthcare
  • Competitor Analysis
  • 5 Usability Tests

Insights from Interviews

Pain points for physiotherapists:

  • The need to constantly juggle between assessing patients and documenting data
  • The time-consuming nature of creating reports based on assessment data
  • Late-night work hours due to paperwork overload

Other Important Insights:

  • Passive range of motion is a key indicator of a patient’s progress.
  • Patients who have a better understanding of their treatment and progress are more likely to do their at home exercises and recover faster.

Competitor Analysis

We identified two products that were similar enough to our app to be considered competitors:

  • Exer: (https://www.exer.ai/) An at-home physiotherapy tool that uses Augmented Reality for patient self-assessment.

What sets Physmate apart: The competitors do not specifically target physiotherapists as their primary users. Physmate, on the other hand, offers a solution specifically designed for use by physiotherapists in clinics. This gives us our niche in the market. We believe that this market is underserved and we can provide great value to professionals in the field.

Technology Validation through Secondary Research

The following research papers validate our app’s technical feasibility, concluding that smartphone sensors are accurate enough to be used as goniometers:

Design Process

Ideation

To generate ideas for the Physmate app, we conducted brainstorming exercises like Crazy 6s and 3-panel sketching.

Crazy 6s

During Crazy 6s, we generated multiple ideas, critiqued each other’s proposals, and selected the most promising ones to proceed with.

Crazy 6 sketching exercise

3-Panel Sketches

We then used 3-panel sketching to further develop and refine our ideas.

3 Panel Sketch exercise

Idea Convergence

Finally, we used dot voting to converge on the most promising idea to take forward for the design process.

Sketches for Idea Convergence

User Flows

User Flow Diagrams

Information Architecture

Wireframes

Insights from Usability Testing

Participants: 2 practising physiotherapists

Prototype used: Medium Fidelity

  • It’s important to measure both active and passive range of motion during patient assessments.
  • It’s difficult to take notes while assisting patients with their assessments, and the subsequent challenge of compiling notes into a report.
  • The effectiveness of sending progress reports to patients to motivate them to continue their recovery journey.
  • The industry standard scales used to measure pain levels.

High Fidelity Design

The main focus of the app is to provide physiotherapists with tools to manage their patients’ recovery journey. The mockups show how the app allows physiotherapists to create and manage patient profiles, conduct assessments, track progress, and assign exercises.

High Fidelity Screens - Physmate App
High Fidelity Screens - Physmate App
Click for full screen

Usability Testing, Round 2

Participants: 3

Prototype used: High Fidelity

Areas for Improvement​

  • Hidden “Take New Assessment” page: Participants had to click through multiple pages to reach the core feature of the app. We need to make this feature more accessible.

  • The “Add a New Patient” feature was not immediately clear to users, as the icon alone didn’t effectively convey its meaning. To improve this, we could consider adding a more prominent button or label for this feature.

  • An alternate user flow that allows assessments to be done first and assigned to patients later should be added.

Reflection

What worked well

  • Talking to practicing physiotherapists was extremely insightful.
  • Conducting usability tests early and often was helpful.

What didn't work

  • For round 2 of usability tests, we should have scheduled time with physiotherapists well in advance as they have busy schedules. We weren’t able to do that.
  • Focusing an one critical hypothesis would be a better use of our resources.

What's Next?

  • Incorporate learning from usability tests.
  • One possibility is to allow patients to track their progress and stay motivated through the app, providing a more comprehensive approach to their recovery journey.
  • Additionally, incorporating remote consultation & booking features could benefit patients in remote areas or those with mobility challenges.

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