About the project
Some background:
What is the BRCA gene mutation?
An inherited genetic mutation increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer (as well as some other cancers).
Widely spread especially among the Askenazi population, and requires a lifetime of enhanced medical screening and risk-reducing surgery.
The problem:
Confused &
overwhelmed
Women diagnosed with a BRCA gene mutation can feel overwhelmed with all of the checkups & appointments they need to undergo on a regular basis. The fact that there is no one unified health-records system doesn’t help.
Pain points
01
The document binder
Many of the potential users mentioned they had to carry around a physical document binder, that contained all their relevant medical documentation.
02
The "When" questions
Due to the lack of one combined medical file that all doctors can access, many of them keep asking “When was your surgery”, “When did you start your treatment?”, etc. every visit.
03
The "Blackout"
Several people mentioned having a kind of “blackout” during a doctor’s visit, and forgetting to ask important questions they planned to ask.
Another aspect of the “blackout” - forgetting what the doctor said after you leave their office.
04
Who knew?
The patients need to be aware of a lot of pre-requisites: doing a specific blood test prior to another test; getting a specific document required for a procedure; the need to fast before an MRI & more
Main Competitors
01
Patient-side medical apps
There are practically no specific apps for BRCA patients.
In the apps created for the general public, the relevant information is not easily accessible.
02
Doctors-side systems
The different doctors do not have one combined system they can access to view full patient info, which makes the patient responsible for maintaining their own medical records.
03
The document binder
Many patients (especially those who got sick) rely on the physical copies of their medical documentation.
04
Scheduling apps
Great for managing different meetings, however, lack info about pre-requisites.
The solution
In comes genie:
Your personal
medical assistant
Genie helps the users collect all their medical info in one place, so they are never stumped by yet another question from a doctor and never again forget a relevant document for an appointment.
Appointment card
Be fully prepared and easily track your progress for every medical appointment, with a predefined to-do list.
Never worry about another blackout, by writing or recording voice notes with all of your questions in the "To Ask" tab.
The "Notes" tab allows the users to write down or record information during the actual appointment.
Home screen
The home screen offers a quick overview of the upcoming appointments & easy access to the main categories. The users can customize the categories (rename, add, etc.)
The main search bar gives the users an additional option to access any of their information.
In the bottom right corner of the screen, a FAB is present to enable the quick addition of new items.
Calendar
The calendar screen offers a quick overview of all upcoming and past appointments, the users can sync it with their main calendar app.
Each appointment card has a progress bar, to clearly indicate the status of the to-do list related to that specific event.
The FAB is present on the calendar screen as well, as we can expect users to want to add new events via this screen.
Milestones
The milestones screen offers quick access to all of the most important information, such as surgery dates, medicaments, etc.
A dedicated search bar is on top of the page, to enable an additional way to find what information.
Each category has a dedicated icon & color, to enable quick scanning when put on the spot during stressful appointments.
Adding new items
The users can add a new item, using the FAB on the Home or Calendar screens.
The FAB opens an overlay with a pre-defined list of categories. In case the user needs a category, not on the list, they can add one of their own.
Each category has a dedicated icon & color, to enable quick scanning. when put on the spot during stressful appointments.
New Doctor's visit
Once the user selects "Doctor's Visit", a list of doctors (previously entered into the app), opens for quick selection. If the requested doctor is not yet on the list, they can be added.
The user then needs to populate the relevant details of the appointment, such as date, time, and comments. If the doctor's location was previously provided, it will be pre-populated.
At this stage, the user is navigated to the new appointment card with the option to create a to-do list.
TO-DO list
At this stage, the user can add items to the to-do list for the appointment, by clicking on the "Add a task" CTA.
The user can provide a title & content for each item on this list.
In case the user doesn't want to add anything to this list, they can skip this step and get back to it at any point.
New imaging test
If the user wants to add a new imaging test, they will get a screen with a free-text input field, that will auto-complete relevant text.
The user then needs to populate the relevant details of the appointment, such as date, time, and comments.
On the next screen, the system offers a pre-defined list of pre-requisites for this specific test type.
Business
opportunities
Health care providers:
Funding vs.
savings
It is in the best interests of the different medical organizations that provide services to BRCA patients to have the full picture, as well as save time during visits and avoid last-minute cancellations.
Hence, it can be profitable for them to provide funding for the app.
Patients:
Premium services
The basic app will be free for all, however, the patients can be offered premium services, such as entering their full medical history into the system by a company representative, help with scheduling appointments, etc.
Additional app features
Onboarding, documents,
test results and more
The users will be able to add relevant documents in 2 ways: scanning them using the app or sending an email to a dedicated email address.
The app will be able to analyze test results entered by the user and display a visual representation of the changes over time.
Providing a technological & visual interface to the information for the medical professionals.
More to come
Illustrations by (modified for the project):
User Personas
Angie Jolinsky
Healthy, prevention-focused
Angie is a 35 years old PPC Manager, married with 2 young kids (and wants another one).
She found out about the BRCA mutation around 3 years ago when her cousin got sick.
Angie leads a busy life and wants to make sure she’s doing her best to maintain her health.
Audrey Jolinsky
Breast cancer survivor
Audrey is Angie's cousin, a 39 years old teacher, and a single mom of one.
She found out about the BRCA mutation when she was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago.
Audrey has undergone chemo & radiations, has even more checkups & doctors than Angie, and is concerned about the repercussions of her illness.
Medical records app for women with the BRCA gene mutation
Ideation | Research | UX | Branding | UI | Prototyping