Overview
Consu was my capstone project for the Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction and Design program at Indiana University Bloomington. Consu enables patients to collect their own data through an AI health coach for self-treatment training, aiding doctors get specific overview of the patient’s state to provide better care.
Diabetes is a silent critical disease
The total number of people living with diabetes is projected to rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045
Getting diagnosed for the first time is super overwhelming!
When a patient first gets diagnosed with diabetes, their life changes. Now they have to watch what they eat and learn about nutrition, understand their bodies, know the risks and change their life habits.
Who are we helping?
Doctors
Doctors don’t have time to check or educate on all their patients. They want to help but there isn’t enouth time and work is repetitive. Keeping track of patients is also an issue...
First time patients
First time patients get extremely overwhelmed when first diagnosed. Some are even at risk of getting depression because they feel this is like a death sentence!
I read, I researched, I experimented... I even pretended to be a patient!
I procured a bunch of activities that helped me gather insights for my project. My first experiment was pretending to be a patient so I bought a lot of health related artifacts people with diabetes use every week to gather insight and empathy.
I read books that merged design thinking with health and made a lot of iterations along the way, gathering feedback from doctors, professors, workshops and peers.
I also Interviewed patients, took workshops with doctors and it all helped to gather great insights!
Some discoveries
After all the research I had discoveries from both the patients and the doctors. Mainly that tracking was something difficult for doctors and that patients had no clue what to do or who to go to after getting diagnosed.
Getting diagnosed for the first time is super overwhelming!
Consu is a two-way platform that helps you introduce patients to educational information and habit forming tracking tools to help them on their journey.
For patients
Consu App: An app that helps you track your habits, it gives you goals and it also teaches you about diabetes type 2 and the things you need as a patient.
For doctors
Consu Web: Consu web helps doctors keep track on their patients. It helps them manage, check documents, medication, keep a virtual track of patient habits, adjust the virtual coach in a personalized way for each patient and more!
Conclusion
After all the research I had discoveries from both the patients and the doctors. Mainly that tracking was something difficult for doctors and that patients had no clue what to do or who to go to after getting diagnosed.
