Symptom Checker — Helping Users Understand Their Health Symptoms Early
Context
The Symptom Checker is a key feature within the Medevo application, developed for BUMN Biofarma. Its primary purpose is to empower users by providing early insights into potential health conditions based on the symptoms they experience.
This tool aims to help users understand their health concerns, facilitating timely decisions regarding further medical consultation or self-care, and ultimately improving health literacy and proactive health management.
Details
Time Frame:
Nov 2021 – Mar 2022
Role:
UX Researcher & UX Designer
Involvement:
Web, Mobile App
Overview
The Symptom Checker is a pivotal feature integrated into the Medevo application, a digital health platform developed for BUMN Biofarma. This project, active from November 2021 to March 2022, aimed to empower users by offering an early understanding of potential health conditions based on the symptoms they input. As a UX Researcher and UX Designer for both its web and mobile app implementations, my role involved crafting a user-friendly and intuitive tool that guides individuals in interpreting their symptoms. The core functionality of the Symptom Checker is to facilitate proactive health management and enhance health literacy, enabling users to make informed decisions regarding their well-being, including when to seek professional medical advice.
Challenge
Designing a symptom checker isn’t just about creating another decision tree — it’s about building trust in moments of uncertainty. Here are the main challenges I encountered:
- Balancing Medical Accuracy & Simplicity : Users needed clear, non-technical language without compromising the accuracy of medical information.
- Minimizing Health Anxiety : The interface had to feel calm and empathetic, helping users avoid panic or self-diagnosis from worst-case scenarios.
- Handling Unstructured Input : Users described symptoms in various ways, so the system had to interpret and guide input smoothly.
- Ensuring Privacy & Trust : As health data is sensitive, building user confidence in privacy and data protection was crucial.
- Seamless Integration with Medevo : The feature had to align with Medevo’s design system and work cohesively with other services like teleconsultation.
Solution
Addressing the complex challenges of designing a reliable and user-friendly symptom checker, our approach focused on a multi-faceted solution:
- Smart Input & Guided Flow: We implemented NLP for symptom entry, followed by a clear, non-technical guided Q&A to balance accuracy and simplicity while handling varied user input.
- Empathetic UI/UX: The interface featured a calming design, transparent messaging, and disclaimers to minimize health anxiety and avoid immediate worst-case scenarios.
- Robust Privacy & Trust: We ensured data security through end-to-end encryption and strict access controls, with transparent policies to build user confidence in handling sensitive health data.
- Seamless Medevo Integration: The feature adhered to Medevo's design system and seamlessly connected with other services like teleconsultation, enabling easy transition from symptom insights to action.
Results
The Symptom Checker’s implementation brought significant positive outcomes:
- Increased User Trust & Engagement: Users reported high satisfaction due to clarity and ease, fostering trust and reducing health-related anxiety.
- Improved Health Literacy & Proactivity: The tool empowered users with better understanding of their symptoms, leading to more informed and proactive health decisions.
- Enhanced Medevo Ecosystem Use: Seamless integration led to smoother user journeys and increased utilization of connected services like teleconsultation.
- Future-Proof Design: The modular system allows for easy updates and expansion, ensuring long-term relevance within Medevo.