Mobile/Web
Health
Personalized COPD Care
A care app that gave COPD patients the tools to manage their recovery from home. Retention reached 84% after three months.
Role
Product Design Lead
Tools
UI/UX Design
Service Design
UX Research
Usability Testing
Team
Healthcare Providers
PM
Engineers
Timeline
7 Weeks (Sep - Oct 2022)
Context
90%
More than 90% of COPD patients live more
than five miles from nearest pulmonary rehab center
40% drop off
After 3 months
Vigor Medical Systems is a health-tech startup helping patients manage cardiac and pulmonary recovery remotely.
Over 90% of COPD patients lived more than five miles from their nearest pulmonary rehab center, making consistent treatment difficult. Despite strong initial sign-ups, 40% of patients dropped off within three months.
Challenge
How might we help COPD patients stay engaged in their rehab journey and maintain consistent care beyond the first three months?
Research & Discovery
Cross-Functional Workshops
Led cross-function workshops to identify service gaps across clinical team, health coaches, and operations.
Usability Testing
Conducted sessions with COPD patients to surface critical pain points in app experience
Observational Research
Shadowed health coaches to understand workflow bottlenecks and communication patterns
Service Design: Finding the Gaps
I mapped the full patient journey to surface where communication was breaking down across patients, health coaches, pulmonologists, and the Vigor operations team.
Seeing the full picture in one place gave the team a shared foundation to coordinate care around.
Key Research Insights
77% of users struggled to complete physical tasks independently, leading to a decrease in user engagement
Patients lacked motivation and agency; their condition significantly impacted mental health
Each health coach managed up to 40 patients, creating unsustainable workload without system support
Solutions
Gamification – Making Progress Visible
With 77% of patients struggling to complete tasks independently, motivation was a clinical problem as much as a design one. Progress tracking, achievement milestones, and clear next steps gave patients visibility into their care, reducing cognitive load while keeping engagement high.
Accessibility – Designing for Elders
COPD patients skew older, so accessibility wasn't an edge case, it was a core design requirement. Larger touch targets, clear visual hierarchy, and simplified navigation made the app usable for people managing a serious condition. WCAG guidelines informed text sizing and language, stripping medical jargon so patients could focus on their care, not decoding it.
From Google Sheets to CMS Platform
Before this platform, health coaches tracked up to 40 patients across disconnected spreadsheets – a workflow that couldn't scale. I designed a centralized CMS where coaches could track patient data, log notes, and message patients directly, all in one place.
Onboarding Feature
Health coaches were spending too much time managing patient data across disconnected spreadsheets. The onboarding feature consolidates that entire intake process into one structured web platform: capturing personal details, medical history, vitals, and scheduling in a single, guided flow.
Impact
“Doctors just don't have time to go over with every patient. But I can see that Vigor has given me the tools. That made a difference.”
Real Patient Testimonies
84%
Patient retention after 3 months
40%
Reduction in emergency visits
148%
Average increase in daily steps
Self-Agency Improves Health
Giving patients visibility and control over their own progress had a direct impact on health outcomes. Agency isn't just a design value… it's a clinical one too.
Human Connection
Some of the most meaningful improvements came from access, not features. Patients reported feeling better simply from having regular conversations with their health coach. A good reminder to design for connection, not just the interface.
Healthcare Providers
Designing for health coaches mattered just as much as designing for patients. When we reduced their administrative load, they had more time for actual care, and that showed up directly in patient outcomes.