Leveraging Blockchain to Support Organ Transplants
My Role
Product Manager
UX Researcher
Team
Chao Feng - UX Designer
Lauren Low - UX Designer
Bea Llagan - UX Designer
YiFan Dai - UX Designer
Ori Nevares - Product Manager
DJ Olaiya - Developer
Gina Kim - Developer
Nikki Moteva - Developer
Skills
Product Management
Project Management
Team Leadership
UX Research
Roadmap Development
Results
• In-depth UX Research involving 7 industry professionals informing design direction.
• Led team off 7 designers and developers to create operational POC to showcase for senior management investment
Timeline
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020 (7 mos)
Preview
A blockchain based tool to transparently manage organ transplant waitlists and matching.
1
A Single Hub
One place for all healthcare workers to input, track, and monitor their patients organ transplant journey.
2
Matching Algorithm
A customizable matching algorithm to support healthcare professionals quickly finding the best match available.
3
Blockchain Based
Leveraging blockchain technology for additional trust and transparency from organ availability to surgery.
The Design Process
Background
SAP fosters an innovation hub called D-shop where motivated employees can come together to experiment and develop products using the latest technologies. I joined as a team lead to see how blockchain could be used to facilitate the organ transplant process.
The Problem
In British Columbia, the organ transplant process suffers from a lack of available organs and resourcing.
Currently there are over 2000 people on the waitlist for an organ transplant.
2000
2010
228
On average people will wait 2,010 days for a match
228 people will die each year before receiving a transplant.
The Goal
Leverage blockchain technology to improve the trust, transparency, and efficiency of the organ transplant process.
Project Kickoff info graphic
Our Approach
Stakeholder interviews and desk research to inform rapid design ideation and proof of concept development.
Stakeholder Interviews
1 hour semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the current state of organ transplants, pain points, and opportunities.
7 Participants
4 Organizations
4 Roles
Doctors
Nurses
Logistics
Patients
Desk Research
Articles, research papers, and published journals were read to better understand the nuances of the organ transplant process and what specifics would need to be designed for.
Personas
Interview and desk research data was synthesized and 3 personas were created to ground our design direction in user empathy.
Aaron
Patient
About
To receive an organ transplant as fast as possible.
Account Manager, SAP
Vancouver, BC
Low Tech Proficiency
Goal
Quotes
“The waiting game is really tough. There is nothing you can do to make anything go faster and only hope an organ becomes available soon.”
“I have no insight into the waitlist but I trust the system and doctors. The wait can just be hard to get through mentally on some days.”
• The waiting time and not knowing when I will be able to receive a transplant.
• Having to locate myself and try to register for as many different locations as possible.
Pain Points
Needs
• A way to get updates on my status of the waitlist and estimated time to receive an organ.
• A lower wait time until I can get my transplant.
Dr. Lauren
Doctor
About
Match available organs to the patient most in need
Nephrologist, Medical Director of Renal Transplantation
St. Pauls Hospital
Medium Tech Proficiency
Goal
Quotes
“I would love to see a nationwide system that facilitates matching organs to those who need it most, not just by province.”
“In B.C. the matching process is done manually and it takes time. Its just an algorithm so there is no reason why it cannot be automated.”
• The time and human error involved with manually matching organs to recipients
• The lack of provincial collaboration for organ transplants
Pain Points
Needs
• An automatic system that can match organs to the patients most in need
• A nationwide system that matches organs to those most in need
Andrew
Nurse
About
Assemble a list of suitable patients to receive an organ transplant.
Intensive Care Unit, Nurse
Royal Columbia Hospital
Medium Tech Proficiency
Goal
Quotes
“There are so many ways we can make the matching process faster. If we have some sort of algorithm that can help facilitate us it would make all the difference.”
“I’d love to be able to access a single system where I can see all my patients and quickly produce a list of suitable matches for the doctors.”
• The time and human error involved with manually assembling a list of potential recipients for the doctors to review.
• No single place to access all patients on waitlist and quickly see their condition.
Pain Points
Needs
• An automatic system that can produce a list of best suited candidates to receive an available organ.
• A single portal to access all my patients and quickly understand their level of need for an organ.
Journey Map
A journey map was created to visualize the patient transplant experience and identify stages that need support.
Service Blue Print
A service blueprint was created to visualize all the stakeholders involved and understand where and how a design solution could be most effective.
Key Insights
Data was analyzed and synthesized from the research and artefacts to generate 4 key insights informing the design direction.
Siloed Health Care
Healthcare across Canada is siloed between provinces due to primarily being provincially funded. Only Critical cases for organ transplants are shared federally.
Trust in the System
Trust and transparency were not major issues for patients on the waiting list. There is a high degree of faith in the health care system.
Many Stakeholders
There are many different stakeholders throughout the organ transplant process with different roles. Support for large scale role based access needs to be supported.
Time Investment
It takes time to manually match organs to recipients. More automation here can help facilitate this process.
Concept Ideation
Top level horizontal header for overall navigation with most frequented features on dashboard.
Concept Ideation
Side panel for navigation with most frequented features on dashboard.
Mid Fidelity
After a design review the leading ideas were taken forward to a medium fidelity prototype with the following changes.
Design Solution
After further stakeholder reviews the prototypes were refined to high fidelity screens.
Reflections
Be careful about trying to solve a problem that does not exist.
Team Leadership
For this project I was leading a team of 7 unique individuals all with their own working style. I found it challenging to strike a balance of creating a space for everyones needs while pushing the project forward. In the future I would take more time at the beginning of the project to hear and identify each teammates working style to be able to create the right environment throughout the project.
from the Noun Project
Solving the Wrong Problem
There was a major assumption around patients not having trust in the organ transplant process and wanting more transparency throughout their experience. This was proven false in our user interviews and moved the importance of using blockchain technology to a background nice to have feature rather than a spotlight. This was yet another example of the importance of removing assumptions from the product development process and making data driven decisions.
from the Noun Project
Leadership Style
Throughout this project I was able to experiment with different leadership styles and felt further settled in my own being a mix between a delegative and participative leader. I was able to effectively create systems and structures to allow for autonomy, alignment, and support in getting the work done.
Website design and content by Ori Nevares