Giving bioelectronic
implant control to patients
The global healthcare market has a shortage of medical care and
rising demands on healthcare services, which is changing how
healthcare operates. Advances in IoT and 5G connectivity are
driving healthcare innovations.
I led the user experience for this pioneering collaboration in healthcare solutions between GSK, Verily Life Sciences & McLaren Applied. Our mission was to design and develop a medical ecosystem to help arthritic patients manage a 10-year bioelectric implant and treat their disease on their own at home. Thereby reducing the frequency of visits with clinicians.
GSK owned the project and provided business goals. Verily Life Sciences were responsible for delivering the technology and manufacturing. McLaren Applied were responsible for the design and user experience.
Achieve UK and US medical standards
Documents for manufacture
Responsible for user experience
Testing and developing desirable, usable and safe medical ecosystem
Champion the needs of arthritic patients
Provided patient empathy during strategic design decisions
Manage agency
Worked with agency to deliver first-class research studies that met our objectives
Innovation
Delivered user insights that pushed boundaries in the performance of medical products
01 My role
Delivered an innovation strategy that met medical regulations
Delivered high quality descriptions of functionality, user experience and user interactions
02 What we delivered
-
An alternative arthritic treatment for patients driven by user insight
​
-
A patent for the patient interaction with bioelectric implant charger
​​
We started with a blank canvas and developed a complete therapy ecosystem and user experience. Our goal was to produce a medical solution with longevity, long term adherence and engagement and we believe we have done just that.
The patient experience focusses on user acceptance, lifestyle, safety, confident control and comfort. During our final study patients were keen to have the treatment asking, "Can I get an implant now", demonstrating the value patients felt this treatment would add to their life.
GSK and Verily offered us the opportunity to design the bioelectric treatment for diabetes patients and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Patient experience
Patient app
Patient device
Energiser
Sticky pads
Energiser belt
Energiser charger
03 Approach
Working closely with arthritic patients was at the heart of our approach to ensure we delivered a medical solution that patients could manage safely and confidently on their own. This helped ensure we met their emotional and physical needs.
Regular insight studies and tests ensured safe and confident design decisions were made along the development process. We used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, for example; in-home interviews, desk research, co-creational workshops, focus groups, user testing, prototypes and mock summative studies. A mixture of automatic and manual data capturing tools were used during testing to evaluate safety, user experience and usability.
​
GSK and Verily life Sciences were heavily embedded into the process to strengthen alliance and confidence in our feedback when making decisions that impacted the patients experience. It also helped challenge pre-existing requirements that fuelled innovation within bioelectronic technology and patient interaction.
04 Research photos
05 Process highlights
1. Ultimate patient experience
Phase 1 focussed on creating a conceptual vision for an ultimate experience. Ideas were not tailored for a clinical trial and used limited considerations for technical feasibility due to availability as the technology was being developed at the same time. The aim was to have a vision which could inspire, challenge and define a goal for our technical partner (Verily) and go to market partner (GSK).
2. Final design
In Phase 2 of the project we evolved our design intent in line with updated understanding of technical constraints (device ecosystem and app). The new design and experience was tested and developed with our target audience in UK and across America.
3. Summative study
We refined and validated the design intent through quantitative,
summative testing of functional models, to provide GSK and Verily with confidence in design integrity (aligned with BS EN62366-1). The core components of the study were to capture data on;
-
Effectiveness: functions related to safety
-
Efficiency: ease of use
-
Desirability: user satisfaction
​
Being a medical study focus was placed on Functions Related to Safety as defined by BS EN 62366-1.
©Melissa Butterworth 2022