Purpose
To help residents of underserved communities worldwide make better use of their resources in emergency medical situations by providing them with technologies through software programming
Role Team Duration Tool
Designer Me + 3 Engineers 10 weeks Figma
About the Project
Global TIES partners interdisciplinary teams of UC San Diego students with nonprofits and NGOs to co-create solutions to socially urgent problems in San Diego and the developing world. The Cruz Roja team’s client is The Red Cross organization in Tijuana, Mexico. I joined the Global Ties - Cruz Roja project as the only product designer in winter 2020, worked closely with engineers to validate the design and copy implementation.
Partner NGO: The Red Cross of Tijuana (RCT)
The Red Cross offers relief to disaster victims, to help prevent emergencies, and respond to them when they happen. As a nonprofit organization, their finances are tight. They can not afford as many ambulances as are needed to service such a large population. Furthermore, they are often are often hindered by their lack of an efficient ambulance dispatch and tracking system.
Problem:
The community in Tijuana, Mexico lacks the ability to make efficient use of their limited EMS resources.
They have only 17 ambulances for almost 1.8 million people, boiling down to one ambulance for every 600,000 people. Additionally, their dispatching process involves dated technology such as radios and satellites. As a result, the time it takes for an ambulance to attend to a patient and deliver them to a hospital often can go from 30 minutes up to over an hour. The difference in minutes can be the difference of whether an ambulance can arrive on time to save a patient.
Limited Ambulances
RCT Response Times with Radio
14 Basic Life-Support Ambulances and
3 Advanced Life-Support Ambulances
serving for 1.8 million residents
1 Advanced Life-Support Ambulance per
600,000 Residents (Tijuana)
vs
1 Advanced Life-Support Ambulance per
53,291 Residents (U.S. Cities in 1990’s )
3 Advanced Life-Support Ambulances
serving for 1.8 million residents
1 Advanced Life-Support Ambulance per
600,000 Residents (Tijuana)
vs
1 Advanced Life-Support Ambulance per
53,291 Residents (U.S. Cities in 1990’s )
Average: 20 minutes
Standard Deviation: 4 minutes
vs
The United States EMS Act recommends that 95%
Standard Deviation: 4 minutes
vs
The United States EMS Act recommends that 95%
of all EMS calls should be served within 10 minutes.
Solution: A Cost-Effective Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Infrastructure
By providing a software interface to allow dispatchers to visualize ambulances in real time, communicate directly with ambulance drivers/hospital employees, and dispatch ambulances more effectively, we can help them optimize resource usage.
Our software consists of two main components.
The first component involves a mobile application for tablets installed in all ambulances within Tijuana. The mobile application will be used by EMTs and ambulance drivers to track ambulance location, perform routing, and accept dispatching calls.
The second component is a website dispatcher interface. With this tool, dispatchers can visualize the locations of all ambulances on a map, check their status, and dispatch them to areas of emergency. In addition, our software will help Cruz Roja determine the optimal placement of ambulances, compute most effective routes, and analyze the results of the dispatching process.
Objectives
The team from previous quarters had developed a basic functional mobile application and website. Our team’s goal is to provide a functional and intuitive system for The Red Cross to efficiently track, dispatch, and communicate with their ambulances and local hospitals.
Previous Design
Final Design
Research
The research trip to Cruz Roja was canceled due to COVID-19. The team internally tested the system to improve the mobile application’s interaction flow.
Key takeaways
- Users need to efficiently communicate with dispatcher for the ambulance availability status and patient’s situation
- Users are unable to update ambulance equipment quantity
- Users need to achieve goals fast
Define
As the team aimed to further complete the mobile application, we focused on adding critical functionalities and design consistency based on following criteria:
Communication
Accurate messaging between dispatcher, ambulance crew members, and doctors is crucial for them to use limited time to prepare treatments for patients.
Intuitive design
Easy to navigate design system can limit unintended user behavior. Thus, it is important to design an easy to use system for ambulance crew members to ensure time efficiency in emergency situations.
Design
Based on the 2 criteria identified above and key insights from user research, the team decided to focus on 3 functionalities, redesign the homepage, add call notes tab and complete equipment tab. The designs are shown below.
Information Architecture
Homepage
Call Notes Tab
Ambulance drivers can view notes from dispatchers and add their own notes.
Equipment Tab
Equipment list is sorted by and color-coded by quantity.
Design Handoff
I worked closely with engineers to validate the design and copy implementation.
We had weekly meetings to work together on the progress. I would present my design progress, ask for feedback and iterate designs, as well as regularly check-in with engineers for implementation process.
Results
The design was implemented in the same and following quarter. It was presented to Red Cross of Tijuana at the end of the quarter. Future teams kept the design and started to work on improving the website application.
What I would’ve done differently?
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was adapting the concept of video calling for all events. Now that I'm experienced with online interviews with stakeholders, I would interview with Red Cross of Tijuana online for primary user research and feedback. I would also design for more user control such as 'search equipment by name'. As well as emphasizing inclusive design with users' 'choice of languages'.
