MEDCTRL — A comprehensive Medical Translating App

Problem

In every continent — from refugees in and across Europe, to legal immigrants here in the US, millions of people are failing to get proper medical care, understanding and treatment due to language barriers and a lack of medical translators. There have been attempts made to design mobile apps to address this issue but by and large they have fallen short leaving an enormous opportunity to serve people in need.

Here is my initial mind map, a brainstorm of the related topics:

Objective

The objective of my research was to explore how people deal with language barriers and the patient doctor experience. Through understanding the underlying problems surrounding communication issues and medical services I hoped to identify how these specific issues would be solved by a mobile app — MEDCTRL.

Design Process

I started by conducting preliminary research on the issue of limited medical access due to language barriers in order to obtain a clearer view of the issue. I then created a low-fidelity user flow and wire flow of what I thought the app should look like. Following that I created a list of relevant questions to ask for a series of interviews. I also sought feedback on the sketches I made and how they could be improved. I recorded the feedback and the interviews. I dug deeper into a competitive analysis to understand what companies had done previously to address the language-medical issue with mobile apps. Using what I learned from the interviews, feedback and research, I made adjustments to my prototypes and constructed a higher-fidelity, clickable prototype using the website ‘Balsalmiq’.

User Flow

Wire Flow

Interview Questions

INFO NEEDED: NAME, AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL, LANGUAGES, LOCATION

1. Have you ever been in a country where you didn’t speak the language?
2. Has language ever been a barrier to you? Can you tell me about that experience? Were you able to overcome the barrier? How?
3. How did it make you feel?
4. Was there anything you did to try to help them understand what you were saying?
5. Have you ever used translation apps? How did that go for you?
6. Can you describe the last time you scheduled a doctor’s visit? What was the process like?
7. What prompted you to schedule the appointment (i.e. seeking answers, routine check, reminder from doctor’s office. etc.)?
8. What was your comfort level with communicating your questions/needs/health status with them?
9. What was the difficulty level of communicating your questions/needs/health status with them? Why?
10. How did this make you feel?
11. What was your process of scheduling the appointment? Would you say this is representative of how you typically schedule a doctor’s appointment?
12. How do you find new doctors? What are your considerations in finding a doctor?
13. What are the pain points of doctor visits for you?
14. Have you ever used an app to seek medical help?
15. If Y: What was that experience like? Is that what you expected?
16. If N: How would you feel about seeking medical help through an app? In what situations would you consider using an app to seek medical help?
17. If you were in a remote location where you didn’t speak the language and needed medical attention, how would you go about getting the help you need?

Synthesis from Interviews

I interviewed 10 English speaking Americans from different parts of the country with various traveling medical experiences. The interviewees were 5 females and 5 males between the ages 24–60. Most of them had encountered situations in which they were subject to a language barrier and reported on how they managed in those situations. Most reported that they used gestures such as pointing, learned short phrases of the languages of the land or carried around one or another type of translating tools.

It was widely reported that being unable to communicate with others was “frightening” , “frustrating” , “depressing” and even “terrifying”. I have been in situations such as these myself can appreciate and agree on their reflections of those experiences.

The second half of each interview was focused on their processes of scheduling and attending doctors appointments. Many reflected that doctors made them feel “safe” and “taken care of” in what is usually a vulnerable, personal and sometimes frightening experience. Many of my interviewees found doctors through referrals from trusted physicians and had no experience with a language barrier in medical situations. Nonetheless, I was able to glean some important insights from the interviews.

Most important to me was that almost all of them would be willing to use a mobile app to obtain health services if the app was simple and effective. Also a qualitative result of the interviews pointed to the fear and vulnerability people must face when struggling to communicate with their healthcare providers. In such a scary and unsettling situation it could be enormously helpful and even life-saving to have a reliable app to help navigate the translation of medical conversations.

Competitive Analysis

I reviewed a number of companies to determine how the issue of language barriers negatively impacting peoples ability to access medical care was being dealt with currently. There is a shortage of medical translators in many regions thus some companies have attempted to address this issue using translation apps. Their success has been limited.

Symptomate is one online resource which does a good job of helping diagnose issues for their users in many different languages. They report that, “72% of users look for health information online” . This finding was consistent with my findings throughout my interview process which signified that before scheduling doctors appointments, most people will search for their diagnosis and ailment online. This is an important trend which led me to believe that an app such as MEDCTRL would be providing an essential service to a user base that is ready for technology of this kind regardless of language or nationality.

One medical journal, ‘Wolters Kluwer’ mentions in their article, “Strategies for overcoming language barriers in healthcare” that globalization has contributed to the increase of language difficulties in medical situations throughout the world — particularly in populations of immigrants and refugees who are at higher risk for health issues. They note that there is a shortage of medical interpreters and bi-lingual medical staff members which points to the dire need of an app which bridges the gap between people experiencing language barriers in medical situations.

Apps such as “Canopy” , “Medico-Speaker” , “Assist” and “Talk to Me” have had some success translating voice to voice in medical circumstances and with pre-set health phrases. In an analysis of suitability for everyday conversations in health care settings, “Canopy” , “Assist” and “Google Translate” were deemed appropriate for most scenarios. Their success represents a step in the right direction in addressing this widespread need but have met criticism in specialty situations and lacking the tenor and bedside manner needed in stressful hospital engagements.

As migrants and refugees pour into countries that lack the medical translating personnel to manage the language barrier between patients and doctors, there is a blaring need for a user-friendly translating tool to aid the process of helping those in need.

In my research I found that there are currently three types of medical translator apps that exist:

1. Preset medical phrase translator apps Canopy Speak and Universal Doctor Speaker are highly accessible, both are free
2. Medical dictionary apps require the user to search for a medical term in one language to receive a translation in another language.
3. General language translator apps require the user to enter a term, statement, or question in one language and then provide a translation in another language

The success of these apps represent a step in the right direction in addressing this widespread need but they have met criticism in specialty situations, lack flexibility in their functioning and are limited to a fairly narrow set of health circumstances.

MEDCTRL is a combination of these three types, and more.

Prototype

This is the home screen of the clickable prototype I made, link to the full prototype is below:

https://balsamiq.cloud/sgfa9d0/p9b77xu/r2CE2

Summary

You might be wondering, okay but what can I do about all this. Easy,

1. Invest in the app.
2. Share it with your friends.
3. Travel and be safe.

As I’ve outlined in this Case Study, there is a dire need for this service to be provided to millions of people struggling to get the medical help they need — simply because of the language barrier between them and the medical staff available. MEDCTRL aims to solve this enormous problem and bring health and wellness to the world.