#app

#startup

#AI

Innovative treatment diary app for dialysis patients

Innovative treatment diary app for dialysis patients

Develop an intuitive app to track daily body metrics and treatment progress for over 1 million kidney failure patients. The app was launched on the Apple Store. I redesigned the app from scratch, and created an illustration and design system.

Develop an intuitive app to track daily body metrics and treatment progress for over 1 million kidney failure patients. The app was launched on the Apple Store. I redesigned the app from scratch, and created an illustration and design system.

End to end design

3 months

CEO, 3 developers

The problem

Over 1 million kidney failure patients experience depression and stress due to the current manual treatment progress recording methods.

The solution

Create an intuitive app to track patients' daily metrics and treatment progress, replacing manual records. The design helped the startup secure $600k in VC funding.

Before

After

What is Uppermed ?

What is Uppermed ?

UpperMed has developed a portable device that makes it easier for peritoneal dialysis patients to conduct dialysis by themselves. I was responsible for the treatment diary app.

What are current issues in this system?

1

Patient Burden

Manually recording body fluid balance, blood pressure, and body weight on paper four times a day is time-consuming and burdensome for patients.

2

Provider Inefficiencies

Healthcare professionals encounter difficulties in effectively monitoring patient progress, especially during in-person clinic visits.

3

Hard communication

Traditional patient-healthcare team communication lacks efficiency, relying on phone calls or third-party apps without a systematic approach.

4

Difficulty in Treatment progress management

It's challenging to track treatment progress using traditional paper-based methods and to record daily treatment data.

To uncover user pain points, I conducted 10 interviews with clinicians and patients…

To uncover user pain points, I conducted 10 interviews with clinicians and patients…


I developed a questionnaire to better understand the perspectives and challenges of potential users, yielding 20 survey responses and conducting 10 user interviews. From these insights, target users were found  to be patients who are 40 - 80 years old.

Jacky Wang

55 / Male

Details

Peter, aged 40, transitioned from being a taxi driver to a new career path due to illness. He is a father of two children under the age of 18.

Inconvenient to record body data 4 times a day

Occasionally forgets to check in at the hospital

Challenge

Improve communication of symptoms and challenges with doctors.

I feel more empowered to manage my treatment progress.

Need

Jacky Wang

55 / Male

Details

Peter, aged 40, transitioned from being a taxi driver to a new career path due to illness. He is a father of two children under the age of 18.

Need

Improve communication of symptoms and challenges with doctors.

I feel more empowered to manage my treatment progress.

Challenge

Inconvenient to record body data 4 times a day.

Occasionally forgets to check in at the hospital.

How might we make the diary app more intuitive to enhance patient communication and data tracking?

How might we make the diary app more intuitive to enhance patient communication and data tracking?

Design goals

Design goals

After identifying the pain points and needs of patients and providers, I sought to improve communication between patients and clinicians and streamline treatment data management. My focus will be on 3 key areas:

1

Empower patients to manage their treatment schedules independently, reducing the burden on hospital providers

1

Empower patients to manage their treatment schedules independently, reducing the burden on hospital providers

2

Improve communication between care providers and patients

2

Improve communication between care providers and patients

3

Track patient treatment progress for improved care management

3

Track patient treatment progress for improved care management

The sitemap shows that main features are on the dashboard

The sitemap shows that main features are on the dashboard


Later, I got 3 Ideations…

Later, I got 3 Ideations…

Before moving to the next step, I conducted a user test with 10 participants and the 3rd idea was selected for further development with the most votes from users.

Present chosen ideas to the PM using a wireframe

Present chosen ideas to the PM using a wireframe

Showcase prototype to developers

Showcase prototype to developers

Uppermed App was designed to make it easier for patients to track their treatments by providing a dashboard that collects data and trend charts that display the data's progression while also enabling seamless communication with care providers through a chat function. This makes treatment management easier for patients.

Design iterations

Design iterations

After discussing the wireframe with PM and developers and confirming the structure aligning with the requirements, I started to design the first version of hi-fi design. I tested 10 users with clickable prototypes and got feedback from them and made the iteration. Furthermore, I verified the accessibility of color and font with WCAG guidelines during the iteration, to ensure that elderly users can easily read the content.

INTERACTION IS NOT INTUITIVE

  • The time picker for “today” was not obvious enough. The detailed data is an expanded card to view and make the info overloaded on the same page.


  • The chat function is important and commonly used, but was hidden in the account tab. It should not be hard to find it.

INTERACTION IS NOT INTUITIVE

  • The time picker for “today” was not obvious enough. The detailed data is an expanded card to view and make the info overloaded on the same page.


  • The chat function is important and commonly used, but was hidden in the account tab. It should not be hard to find it.

CATEGORY IS HIDDEN

  • On this screen, the main 4 categories data are hidden in the dropbox. It is not very intuitive to see all categories at first and is hard to switch to others.


  • This lack of clarity made it challenging for users to navigate seamlessly between different categories, leading to confusion and contributing to user drop-off issues.

CATEGORY IS HIDDEN

  • On this screen, the main 4 categories data are hidden in the dropbox. It is not very intuitive to see all categories at first and is hard to switch to others.


  • This lack of clarity made it challenging for users to navigate seamlessly between different categories, leading to confusion and contributing to user drop-off issues.

"Got NPS score 9 in final design's usability test!" 

"Got NPS score 9 in final design's usability test!" 

User test Result

User test Result

The user testing included 10 patients and 10 clinicians. The testing plan involved various tasks, and feedback was collected afterward. I selected error rates and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to assess users' comprehension and satisfaction with our app, serving as key indicators of design success.

1

Error rates

9/10 of patients completed the right paths of 5 tasks we created successfully without errors.

2

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Our average rating for the question "How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale from 1 to 10?" was 9, demonstrating high user satisfaction with the app.

3

Other feedback

10/10 of doctors and nurses provide positive feedback that the app helped them reduce their workload.

Hi-Fi prototype

Hi-Fi prototype

Challenge
& reflection

  • I've enhanced empty states to spark curiosity, implemented family mode for remote treatment monitoring, and added lively animations to make note-taking more engaging.

  • Through extensive usability testing and user feedback, I improved our health app. It's gratifying to see it help kidney failure patients manage their self-treatment and journey to recovery.

  • This project taught me that empathy is crucial for designers to understand and meet users' needs effectively. ✨

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What are current issues in this system?

1

Patient Burden

Manually recording body fluid balance, blood pressure, and body weight on paper four times a day is time-consuming and burdensome for patients.

1

Patient Burden

Manually recording body fluid balance, blood pressure, and body weight on paper four times a day is time-consuming and burdensome for patients.

2

Provider Inefficiencies

Healthcare professionals encounter difficulties in effectively monitoring patient progress, especially during in-person clinic visits.

2

Provider Inefficiencies

Healthcare professionals encounter difficulties in effectively monitoring patient progress, especially during in-person clinic visits.

3

Hard communication

Traditional patient-healthcare team communication lacks efficiency, relying on phone calls or third-party apps without a systematic approach.

3

Hard communication

Traditional patient-healthcare team communication lacks efficiency, relying on phone calls or third-party apps without a systematic approach.

4

Difficulty in Treatment progress management

It's challenging to track treatment progress using traditional paper-based methods and to record daily treatment data.

4

Difficulty in Treatment progress management

It's challenging to track treatment progress using traditional paper-based methods and to record daily treatment data.

1

Error rates

9/10 of patients completed the right paths of 5 tasks we created successfully without errors.

1

Error rates

9/10 of patients completed the right paths of 5 tasks we created successfully without errors.

2

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Our average rating for the question "How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale from 1 to 10?" was 9, demonstrating high user satisfaction with the app.

2

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Our average rating for the question "How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale from 1 to 10?" was 9, demonstrating high user satisfaction with the app.

3

Other feedback

10/10 of doctors and nurses provide positive feedback that the app helped them reduce their workload.

3

Other feedback

10/10 of doctors and nurses provide positive feedback that the app helped them reduce their workload.

Designed and built by Karina Su @2025

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Linkedin

Email

Email

Designed and built by Karina Su @2025

Linkedin

Linkedin

Email

Email

Designed and built by Karina Su @2025

Email

Email

Linkedin

Linkedin