Create a community that allows users to create a community that allows users to crowd source potential medical solutions from natural products based on personal results and validate their solutions through medical channels.
User experience
Visual design
Project timeline: 2.5 months
Sketch, Figma, Lucid Charts, Keynote, Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote and Google Forms
Western medicine over looks the power of nutrition and dietary changes. Potential natural cures and treatmentsare usually unsubstantiated and labeled as,”quackscience". Food Med democratizes the understanding of nutrition and dietary changes by allowing people to crowdsource studies on potential natural cures, fund. official scientific studies, and compare results with one another to verify effects. Also, users can inspire scientists and others by documenting their own experiments. They can then raise money to have the experiment re-created and evaluated by a scientist or a professor at a University.
With the rising cost of healthcare the health conscious consumer needs a way to validate the medicinal properties of natural products to find more cost effective ways to treat/prevent chronic disease. We have the opportunity to give users the ability to inspire, crowdsource, and sponsor medical studies to validate/debunk natural products.
To support medical advancement from natural products we’ll build an app that allows consumers to share, discover, and fund the studies to validate potential natural cures and treatments of diseases. The app will fund studies to discover efficacy of products that normally would not receive much attention from the private sector.The app will give users the ability to better maintain health and reduce the cost of health care.
Sex: Male / Female
Age Range : 20s- 50s
This survey was conducted using Google Forms and consists of 20 participants (both male and female) ranging from ages 24-50. Despite this, a majority of participants always consider using alternative medicine because a majority of them are concerned about possible side effects of medication. A majority of participants has never used a crowd sourcing platform and if so a majority of users may donate money to fund a study. However, the results may not be representative of the target audience because there aren’t enough crowdsourcing users in this group. Although, it may demonstrate an opportunity for an untapped market.
• Low on funds (referring to why not willing to donate money)
• Low on funds (price conscious buying food)
• Distrusts traditional western medicine
• Critical of the pharmaceutical industry
• Side effects from pharmaceutical treatments
• Alternative medicine lacks peer review and studies
• Depends on depth of study
• Depends on side effects
• Not enough funding for alternative medicine / funding goes to big Pharma
• Chronic illness should be funded in a more traditional route. Gofund me type of funding is less accountable.
• I’m not sure I want to be a test subject
• Allow users to document their alternative solution with the app to fundraise money to support their experiment via subscriptions and/or one time donations
• Money that exceeds cost of experiment is put in a fund. Verified researchers or research teams can then pitch to the fundraiser to recreate, document and validate the experiment.
• Any users that are inactive for over a year the fund goes to the most promising research/team which will be voted on by a panel.
• All researchers and research teams must be verified via background check to confirm their identity, credentials etc.
• Allows researchers to crowd source funds to explore what components makes the treatment successful
• Search function to allow people to find alternative solutions to a chronic disease that is being or has been tested with posted results
• All details of the funded experiment must be made public. The Motto “By the public for the public”
Vani
39
Medical Coder
San Diego, CA
Objective 1:
Determine how a user determines when to seek medical attention.
Objective 2:
Understand steps involved with discovery, diagnosis, and treatment.
1. What type of symptoms would have you seek professional medical attention?
There’s a long list of symptoms that would make me seek professional attention. Sharp pain in the chest, loss of function with any body part, extreme pain and constant pain over a long period of time. Also, any serious trauma injury.
2. When would you use a natural alternative treatment over prescription drug?
First, if the symptoms I have aren’t serious I’d first try to use a natural remedy. For example sore throat, light cough or minor headache. Then I’d try the natural remedy to treat the problem. If it doesn’t work, eventually I’d use an over the counter drug to help relive the symptoms. If the symptoms don’t improve within a few days and gets worse I then will go to the doctor to get a diagnosis to make sure it isn’t something serious. If it is something that is acute then I’ll continue using the natural treatment after the diagnosis. If conditions do not improve then I will use medicine.
3. If you were diagnosed with a chronic illness that couldn’t be cured with conventional medicine would you consider trying an alternative treatment?
Yes, I would consider trying an alternative treatment. I don’t like the side effects of a lot of medications and if I can find a natural solution that has the same effect or better I’d give it a try.
4. If you were diagnosed with a fatal chronic disease for example an aggressive form of cancer with no chance of being cured. Would you consider using a natural alternative form of treatment and share your results with others.
Yes, chemo and radiation is a painful and expensive process. If there was no hope I’d do some research and try a natural remedy because I’d rather be comfortable in the process and the other method would give me more hope than an absolute with the other expensive and painful method. Also, if I were to be successful in my alternative treatment I’d love to share the information with others to help them.
1: Login & Select Disease
2: Submit Biometrics info
3: Understanding the validation score
4: Home
5: Search for a list of natural treatments
6: Add disease to a list
7: Search for treatment with the highest success rate
8: View list of verified treatments
9: Document a treatment
10: Rate and Review a claim
11: Like treatment
12: Share treatment on social media
• Wants to know if her data would be safe
• Has a hard time understanding what validation score it
• Had a hard time of finding a list of natural cures
• Was unable to add disease to the list
• Found the search button
• Found success rate
• Found treatment with highest success rate
• Found list of unverified treatments
• Was unable to find document treatment in the menu
• Was unable to find review claim
• Was able to find way to share treatment
• Felt comfortable sharing data if it’s for a doctor but didn’t feel too comfortable if it’s for a private company
• Didn’t understand the concept of validation score initially, after reading the information she understood it more.
• Was able to search for natural treatments
• Was able to add disease to a list
• Was able to find treatment with the highest success rate
• Broke the flow. Found an error in the low fidelity test.
• Figured out how to document treatment
• Was unable to immediately share treatment on social media
• Concern was having people self medicate / if users were monitored.
• User was able to login
• Was able to select disease of interest
• User wanted a feature to a different metric for international users
• User didn’t initially know what a validation score was
• He didn’t like the Thanks for sharing message after submitting biometrics
• He figured out what validation score was after some thought
• Suggested to add a back button
• Found search, found natural treatment but it took time
• Was able to add disease to list
• Took time for user to find treatments with high success rate
• User had a hard time with the search tabs
• User did not know what an unverified treatment was but found it.
• Could not find the document button.
• Fund the share treatment
Task Lists
1. Login / Pick Cancer
2. Biometrics
3. Choose most successful treatment
4. Find list unverified treatments
5. Find verified most recent
6. Find top verified
7. Save turmeric study
8. Select first study in progress
9. Donate money
10. Find controlled study
11. Document treatment
12. Write notes
13. Share your progress
Recommendations
1. Add Logo in Login
2. I’d like to see the buttons have color
3. Document should have video option
Simple improvements were made after the first testing. The logo was added onto the login page. Also, color other than gray was added to the buttons throughout this version of the app.
Task List
1. Login / Pick Cancer
2. Biometrics
3. Choose most successful treatment
4. Find list unverified treatments
5. Find verified most recent
6. Find top verified
7. Save turmeric study
8. Select first study in progress
9. Donate money
10. Find controlled study
11. Document treatment
12. Write notes
13. Share your progress
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