Introduction
Clinic in A Box is a fourth-year capstone project, which is a portable device functioning as a remote clinic with the ability to diagnose and treat early-stage Sepsis. It is able to generate reports according to the testing results and store information and data in a backend database. The device is lightweight, easy to use, and does not require specialists to perform operations.
Duration: 7 months (Sep 2017 - April 2018)
Team Size: 4 Engineers
Platform: Android, Arduino, Mysignal Platfrom
My Role: Arduino/Front-end Programmer, UI/UX Designer
My Contributions
Implemented the communication interface between micro controller and android application.
Developed the system on micro controller to handle the data from sensors and transfer the date to software component.
Implemented the front-end UI for the android application.
Designed the logo and UI interface.
Achievement
The project was awarded as Distinctive Design Project and presented on the department final showcase
System Overview
Final Design
User Interaction -- The application design is intuitive and easy to use from both aesthetic and functional perspectives. Non professional users are able to perform tests and understand the report without extra effort. The usage of a touchscreen tablet provides an all-in-one interface, which is able to receive inputs from users and display output information directly and efficiently.
Diagnostic Questionnaire Page -- Questions are designed to be straightforward and easy to understand. The answers to these questions play an important role in the analysis and report generation stage.
Medical tests -- Three medical tests, including blood pressure test, blood oxygen test and temperature test, all function properly by providing accurate measurement results with relatively low deviations.
Diagnosis and feedback-- The algorithm is fast and efficient, and is able to correctly indicate the potential risk of early stage sepsis for this patient according to the signs, symptoms, and the physical test results. Moreover, the algorithm is able to identify the appropriate medicine and suggestions in accordance of diagnosis results.
Data Storage -- The choice of SQLite is suitable for storing more than 100 patients’ data in the database, which meets the requirements of application in rural areas with intense population. Furthermore, the database responses quickly when accessing the history users’ data and their reports.
Functions
User Interaction -- Provides clear instructions to users with text and images, while general response time shall be within 1 second.
Diagnostic Questionnaire Page -- 5 yes-or-no questions along with diagrams were provided.
Blood Pressure Test -- Be able to measure blood pressure with a most deviation of 20 mmHg [9].
Blood Oxygen Measurement -- Be able to measure blood oxygen saturation.
Armpit Temperature Measurement -- Be able to measure armpit temperature, differed <= 0.5℃ with hospital digital thermometer.
Diagnosis -- Identify either the patient is on the stage on early sepsis or the signs and symptoms indicate the potentials into early sepsis based on patient’s test results.
Report Generation -- Generate diagnostic report within 1 minute based on diagnosis results.
Treatment and Feedback -- Be able to identify the appropriate medicine and suggestions in accordance of diagnosis results.
Data Storage -- Be able to store at least 100 patients’ data in the database.
UI/UX Design
The aesthetic design of the application uses red as the theme color, and band aid as the basic design element to deliver the main concept of this healthcare design. The infinity mark in the logo represents that the device is a standalone design, operating without external internet and professional technician. The overall design utilizes minimum color effect and simple texts to maintain its straightforwardness and intelligibility.
The front-end interface consists of an Android application and a touch screen tablet, which provides efficient methods for interaction between the software and users. The interface is compacted in a single tablet, which serves as an I/O platform to display questionnaire, test instructions and diagnosis reports. Users can import command or personal information through the touch screen. The basic flow of our application does not require users to make any complicated decision, but only need to follow specific instructions to finish the diagnosis.
Future Improvement
Escalating from current status, design can be reinforced based on several characteristics: regions, disease types, and ages.
Language: The device will finally face both developed and developing countries, no matter you are from highly urbanized city or from rural area, speak English or minority languages. After all, every single one in the world will benefit from this device. Hence, developing an additional function about selecting desired one from language list will be fascinating for users. In addition, backend algorithm should maintain a language import function, which allows developers import complete language library at any time.
Another major area of future work to be considered at is to spread this device concept to other critical disease happens globally.Potential effects could include: researching on other crucial diseases such as Preterm Birth, Asphyxia, and Jaundice, obtaining list of tests that crucial to diagnosis, reconstructing the device with more portable option to carry all different sensors for various test.
Thoughts also need to be put into developing of all age range coverage. Instead of limiting on neonates, the design should make effect on targeting all ages. Allowable age range for each test will differ by selection of specific disease, and patients will be notified that they are acceptable to take the test or not.