Malva

Project

Malva - Securely Store and Share Medical Data on the blockchain

Role

Product Designer

2023

I carried out a case study to gather information on the current methods of storing and accessing patient data, to find out what target users like or don’t like about their processes and how efficient it is. The purpose was to determine the basic ‘pain-points’ of medical practitioners when it comes to finding and accessing patient data and scheduling consultations in order to identify necessart features for the Malva platform.

SUMMARY

Efficient and accurate health data management is paramount for hospitals and medical practitioners, serving as the bedrock of diagnosis, prescriptions, and overall healthcare. Despite the introduction of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), there remains a significant gap to be addressed in the data collection and sharing processes within medical practices.

Currently, a General Practitioner can encounter up to 40 patients in a single day, gathering vital medical history. However, the existing methods utilised for data collection and sharing fall short, highlighting the pressing need for streamlined solutions that bridge this gap and optimise healthcare data management practices.

How do we connect patients with doctors globally through tele-app appointments while also streamlining access to medical records for authorised healthcare providers?

USER INTERVIEWS

While the survey was informative, in-depth interviews helped to further define the scope of the problem and build a persona for our target users. Here’s an excerpt from one of the interviews conducted with a medical practitioner.

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Link to listen - Interview

CURRENT PROCESS

When patients visit the hospital, here’s what usually happens:

step 1
‍‍
Patient comes into the hospital with symptoms.

step 2
‍‍
Medical Practitioner takes medical history and information from patient through in-person questionnaire to get assessment of diagnosis.

step 3
‍‍
General Physical & specialised exams are done.This step is necessary for new patients registering (~ 20% of total patients)

step 4
‍‍
Medical Practitioner sends out test results over phone calls or in-person visits and schedules follow up consultation (if needed)

step 5
‍‍
Medical practitioner writes prescription to patient

PAIN POINTS AND CHALLENGES

57%

57% of them reported they currently adopt offline methods of storing patient health records.

51%

These offline methods are through paper folders for each patient, which resulted in a 51% satisfaction rate on the storage methods.

71%

When asked how they share test results with patients — 71% of them ask patients to physically come in to collect results

29%

Only 29% make use of email or sms to communicate test results.

86%

When asked how they retrieve a new patient’s medical history, 86% answered either through verbally asking them for it or not retrieving medical history at all.

MOST COMMON CHALLENGES

From the surveys carried out on how medical practices in Nigeria store patient information, the most common challenges faced using these methods include:

Misplaced patient records as a result of folders becoming too cumbersome to manage.

‍Slow network when trying to access online records.

No existing infrastructure for retrieving data from another facility.

Difficulty transferring patient data between intra-facility departments.

Difficulty reading handwriting.