Empowering nurses to reclaim time and balance in their daily lives through a community service program that connects them with high school student volunteers
In Partnership with Loyola University Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing
Care+
Team Project
Duration: 8 Weeks
My Role: Lead Product Designer
Team Members:
Maggie C. Engagement Coordinator
Paulina S. Lead Strategist
Alexis W. Project Manager
As Lead Product Designer, I took lead on both visual and product strategy from 0 to 1.
This includes, creating user flows, and information architecture, leading ideation sessions, creating a brand, leading user testing, sketching wireframes to creating polished interfaces and prototyping.
My Role
We pitched our product to Nurses, Hospital Administration and Nursing students.
75% agreed that this app would be easy to use and integrate into their everyday life
80% agreed that they would download Care+ and found it to be a useful concept that would save them time and energy.
The Outcome
Introducing, Care+
The Solution
Care+ is a platform that helps nurses balance their professional and personal responsibilities by connecting them with student volunteers for household and family care.
The platform offers pre-made recipe and grocery lists to simplify weekly meal planning, a network of high school students available to assist with day-to-day tasks, and a live daycare dashboard that allows nurses to stay connected with their children’s activities while on duty.
Problem Discovery
We were approached by Loyola Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing to address the rising issue of moral distress among nurses
With growing concerns about how nurses manage and alleviate stress, the university sought innovative solutions to provide meaningful support and improve well-being.
Secondary Research
Who is taking care of our care takers?
Primary Research
To better understand my problem space I talked with Nurses, and Nursing Students at Loyola University.
I love being a mom, [...] but sometimes I am so exhausted after work, I forget to check in on my child. They are fed, and sleep, and healthy but I have no idea what they did in class or who their best friend is.
Nurse Practitioner
It is really the small things which get annoying. [...] Getting milk after work, forgetting to restock toilet paper. [...] it’s hard to keep track of the house when I’m at work all day.
OR Nurse
From the primary research, I started building insights through empathy mapping and learned that Nurses to do way too much.
Defining the User: User Stories and Journeys
From the primary research, I started building insights through empathy mapping and learned that Nurses to do way too much.
“[…] but you aren’t just a nurse, you are a parent, a partner, a caretaker outside work for your sick parents, and then you lose who you are for yourself.”
Nurse Practitioner
Synthesis
Research Takeaways
Lack of Community
Nurses often feel isolated without opportunities to engage with each other about career and life difficulties.
Time Away from Family
Nurses often experience distress due to the time spent away from their families, balancing demanding work schedules with personal obligations, leading to feelings of guilt, stress, and a lack of quality time with loved ones.
Scheduling Dilemmas
Balancing work commitments with personal responsibilities poses challenges, especially when trying to schedule chores amidst the demands of daily routines.
Forming Concepts
Moral Distress is not working in isolation. It is one small slither of the issues that Nurses talked to us about in the stress that they take home.
While the university came to us with the prompt of focusing on Moral Distress, our user interviews we found that Nurses were much more focused on finding ways to live a balanced lifestyle.
Opportunity Statement
There's an opportunity to empower nurses by providing comprehensive support for their out-of-work responsibilities and give them some time back.
By connecting student volunteers who need community hours for their diploma, with nurses, we can create mutually beneficial relationships while addressing the pressing need for enhanced work-life balance in the healthcare sector.
Wireframes
I led an ideation workshop with my team members to consider different features that I synthesised into a user flow to start wire framing and prototyping
Final Screens
While the app is ambitious in its many functions, a minimal colour scheme and brand, helps the UI make information digestible, and easy to use for nurses.
WALK THROUGH FLOWS
Organized Care
1
The home page features a schedule with all the activity, from childcare to grocery to even pet care. Allowing nurses to easily click on events they want to know more about.
Pain Points Addressed: Scheduling Dilemmas
Pre-Made Grocery Lists
2
Use pre-made lists, all dietary restrictions options included, to easily add to the cart and have the groceries delivered to work for easy pick up after shifts.
Also flexibility to make your own list, and have a favourites as well for easy adding.
Pain Points Addressed: Scheduling Dilemmas
Student Volunteers
3
Care+ allows students from high schools and colleges to volunteer to help nurses. In return they are able to form connections and learn more about the nursing profession.
Each student has to apply with at least one recommendation letters and have a letter of intent.
Pain Points Addressed: Lack of Community, Scheduling Dilemmas
Daycare Monitorring
4
Care+ fosters the connection between children and nurses as parents with a partnership with hospital daycares. Parents are able to check in with their children throughout the day, see what they have been making and know their schedule as well.
Pain Points Addressed: Family Disconnections
With more time and resources, I would…
Restructure care+ information architecture to find simplicity