Neophytes - GR1: Analysis

Observation & Interviews

Person #1- Athletic Trainer for MIT Athletics (Main User)

The person being interviewed/observed is a medical professional, more specifically an athletic trainer, at MIT. They deal with many physical injuries every day, and have to coordinate with doctors for injuries that they deem more severe. We learned many useful techniques for diagnosing physical injuries, as well as key signs to look for. He also enlightened us to the potential legal issues of this product, but for now since we are focusing on UI design, we will ignore these. The particularly interesting moment for this interaction was when he was diagnosing a hurt ankle that was severely swollen and discolored. He had a few ideas of the cause but to be sure, he quickly snapped a picture and sent it to a MIT doctor. Within minutes the doctor had responded in a text giving him his diagnosis/advice. This revealed to us that maybe the Medical process is not as efficient as it could be.

Person #2

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Person two is in late middle age and exercises occasionally.  He has a history of minor sports injuries/surgeries and has seen a trainer/doctor for these in the past.  As someone who now exercises less frequently, he is not always serious enough to go get help when he believes it would heal naturally and quickly, though he would appreciate having recommended exercises to help heal/prevent future injuries. 

Person #3

This person belongs to the user class of Adults without access to Medical attention. 

- Student Trainer for MIT Athletics (Main User)

This student trainer works alongside the main athletic trainer. She is only here for one season, which she says is the standard for student trainers. Whereas the main trainer deals mostly with diagnosis and therapy design, the student trainer is often the one to oversee the athletes going through their exercises. They also are required to record the pain level and ease at which the exercises are completed. It was interesting to note that the student trainer interviewed said there is at least one or two exercises on every therapy program that she is unsure of. To resolve this issue, she has to ask the head trainer to demonstrate the exercise. She noted this is a pretty common occurrence.

Person #3 - Head Trainer (Secondary User)

The head trainer is responsible for overseeing the training room, all the athletic trainers, and the athletes. The head trainer interviewed said one of his biggest concerns is recording and documenting all the treatments being performed. The budget he receives is directly correlated to the gross amount of treatments received by all athletes. To help record all this information, he has computers at each end of the training room to have athletes log in the treatment they received. He also said that he has all the athletic trainers manually enter in treatments missed by the athletesThis user expressed a primary concern of being able to use the interface without becoming frustrated and giving up on it. They would like it to be very clear in the diagnosis steps, and offer additional help if something remains unclear. This user also has imperfect eyesight and want’s to be able to ‘see’ everything. The user isn’t knowledgeable of specific areas of the body, so they would like assistance / an interactive way to pinpoint the affected area. If there are forms for submitting information, the user would like to be able to edit all responses up until the final submission step.

User Classes

We have chosen 3 user classes:

Low Income Adults - These adults have a propensity for receiving more physical injuries and needing more medical attention. This can be due to a number of factors such as the amount of manual labor performed, living conditions, and nutrition. These adults also may not have complete access to healthcare due to their low income. We will assume there is a correlation between their level of income and education.

Adults without access to Medical attention - This class differs from the one above in that these users might have the money, but still, can not seek medical attention. There are two main reasons for adults to fall into this category. First location plays a factor, are they within range of an appropriate medical facility. Second, is their mind-set, some people just do not want to go to the doctor unless they are "dying".

Medical Professional - These users are on the other side of the UI from the previous two classes. These medical professional will have the responsibility of interpreting results from the previous two classes; Making the problems and specifications of this class starkly different from the previous two. These users would be medical professionals who volunteer their time to help others.

Needs & Goals

After our analysis we identified the following needs and goals:

For low income adults and those without access to medical attention:

• • Diagnose their injury
  • Receive a description of the prognosis/treatment options

For medical professionals:

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Trainer - The main class of users that our application will focus on. Trainers work with athletes rehabbing injuries through physical therapy.

Head Trainer - The head trainer supervises other trainers by reviewing their treatment plans. He is also responsible for budgeting and oversees recording of treatments.

Student Trainer - The student trainer oversees the athlete going through their exercises and records the athlete’s progress.

Needs & Goals

- Create a customized exercise program quickly
- Modify an existing exercise program
- Track athlete’s progress
- Share exercise program with athlete
- Share an overview with the Head Trainer
- Collaborate and use exercise programs designed by other trainers
- Provide cumulative statistics on therapy programs