By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    stress management for healthcare workers
    3 Tips For Healthcare Professionals: How To Stay Beautiful, Healthy, and Happy
    November 2, 2021
    importance of relaxing on the weekend for your health
    Importance of Relaxing During the Weekend for Optimal Health
    March 25, 2022
    LASIK Eye Surgery
    What Is LASIK Eye Surgery?
    May 16, 2022
    Latest News
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
    The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
    May 22, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    The PCMH and Home Care Data: An Interview with Melissa McCormack
    December 19, 2013
    IT Strategy for Health Plans: Interview with ikaSystems CEO Joe Marabito
    August 11, 2014
    A New Kind of Stress Test
    May 26, 2015
    Latest News
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
    Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
    June 25, 2025
    When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
    June 20, 2025
    Preventing Contamination In Healthcare Facilities Starts With Hygiene
    June 15, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: 3 Keys to Designing a Life-Changing Mobile Health Device
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Mobile Health > 3 Keys to Designing a Life-Changing Mobile Health Device
Mobile HealthRemote Diagnostics

3 Keys to Designing a Life-Changing Mobile Health Device

Katie Matlack
Katie Matlack
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

There’s a lot of interest in the impact of mobile health devices. With the proper apps and plug-ins, a device like an iPhone can capture and transmit medical data for diagnosis or disease management. Such mobile health devices can be useful tools for helping prevent disease and promoting good health through patient monitoring and followup.

There’s a lot of interest in the impact of mobile health devices. With the proper apps and plug-ins, a device like an iPhone can capture and transmit medical data for diagnosis or disease management. Such mobile health devices can be useful tools for helping prevent disease and promoting good health through patient monitoring and followup.

Since I cover health IT and medical software for my company, Software Advice, I recently decided to see what it would be like to design some of these devices myself. You can read about those apps in my earlier post; this post, however, is reserved for commenting on what that process taught me about what a mobile medical device needs to be successful.

Here’s the short list.

1) Keep users coming back: the Firefly test.

Being able to run off an iPad or iPhone can make a medical device less intimidating to a potential remote monitoring user–most people are familiar with iPhone user interfaces.

But to really get patients to want to use the device, designers have to get clever. Otherwise once the novelty wears off, the app might quickly be forgotten, as researcher Laura O’Grady pointed out to me in discussions via email. Behavior change is the challenge, she stressed.

What clever solutions have we seen work to get people to change over the long term? Here’s an example: behavioral change researchers at the Pervasive Action Lab in the UK found that user-friendly displays could significantly influence behavioral change.

They used a path of twinkling lights resembling blinking fireflies to lead office workers to the stairs and cause them to skip the elevator. This twinkling path, most likely because it was “aesthetic, public, fun, informative and compelling”, according to the researchers, was able influence people to take the stairs much more effectively than ordinary signage, promoting weight loss.

Designers should remember these firefly lights and strive to make a device or app’s interface with patients go beyond just capturing, displaying and sharing data. Instead, they should aim to make the way the patient interacts with the app memorable, delightful, endearing.

If we really want patients to use these telehealth tools for preventative care, we have to make using them worth their time. Just because the app or device you created was written up in prestigious journals or praised by your peers doesn’t mean patients will actually benefit from it. Designers should think of patients, not peers, as the ultimate judge they want to impress.

2) Get users to act on the data: the “Work With vs. Work At” test.

Another researcher, Natalie Jeremijenko, has examined motivating behavior change through another endearing means of communication: robotic dogs that have been programmed to sense their surroundings, then communicate information about their surroundings through their movements.

Jeremijenko theorized that if people are given information from animal-like devices that show, through their “behavior,” whether an area has healthy or dangerous air quality, then the people would internalize the information and be more likely to act on it than they might be to another boring data printout or sign full of numbers and text.

She noted that the design “inspires people to act, to investigate, to collect evidence and use it to affect change.”

Similarly, good mobile medical devices will work with users to engage with and motivate them. If users must work at using the device regularly, they’ll probably start to ignore it soon.

Integrating peer networks into mobile health devices is one way designers can work with patients. A study by M. Chiu et al., appropriately called “Playful Bottle”, looked at how a mobile app could get people to drink more water throughout the day. The study found that, when people got social reminders about how much water their coworkers were drinking, they not only drank more water, but also drank more frequently, than they did when they were just given reminders alone.

Relating this to our discussion on mobile medical devices: pre-diabetic kids could be enticed to exercise by an app that records their exercise levels and also connects them to a network of other kids striving for the same goals.

3) Address Overlap by Collaborating: the Get Outside Your Silo test.

Through my email exchange with Jeff Jorgenson, the Assistant Director of the Office of Telemedicine at UCSF and SFGH about the mobile health devices I designed, I also learned that collaboration among designers doesn’t happen as often as it should. Jorgenson observed that “current solutions in the marketplace tend to be very vertical.” In other words, many designers are working in silos.

Why should mobile health device and app designers take a less insular approach? Two reasons.

First, it would save them time and money. Developers could use a common framework (the approach Jorgenson’s Office of Telemedicine advocates). For progress to happen at the fastest rate, to be able to help the most people, Jorgenson pointed out, “there’s a need to efficiently replicate functionality and keep costs low.”

Second, mobile health device designers should collaborate because, given the number of comorbidities that exist, it’s necessary. Multiple specialists and disciplines need to be involved in an effort that seeks to truly address user needs.


Thanks to Dr. Marlene Maheu, Laura O’Grady, and Jeff Jorgenson for their help with writing this article.

TAGGED:Connectivity
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

9 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Add Years to Your Life
9 Healthcare Lifestyle Tweaks That can Add Years to Your Life
lifestyle
July 11, 2025
car accident lawsuit
Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
Policy & Law
July 6, 2025
women dental care
What Is a Smile Makeover and How Much Does It Cost?
Dental health
June 30, 2025
HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps
Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
June 25, 2025

You Might also Like

Pilot Program – Remote Vital Reporting Devices

March 21, 2011

Advance Practice Nurse Led Clinics – Coming to Your Medical Neighborhood Soon?

November 18, 2012
biomedical products for senior health
eHealthGeriatricsMedical DevicesMedical InnovationsMobile HealthTechnologyWellness

Enhancing the “Coolness Factor” in Our Later Years

June 24, 2014

Smart Watch for Epilepsy Patients Issues Mobile Alerts

July 18, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?