czoeedelman
ChristianaCare
The Role
This summer I worked with ChristianaCare in Wilmington, Delaware as a HomeHealth Innovation Intern in their Innovation Center. The goal for the summer was to learn more about user research and implementation in design, as well as perform user interviews and shadowing. My main research was into the roles of the ChristianaCare HomeHealth department and AI companion robots. I spent my time performing online research, shadowing health professionals, and testing robots. I then took this data and turned it into various visuals for the office in the form of user personas and informational slide decks. I'm very grateful for this experience as I got a good look into what an innovative work environment looks like and further developed my teamwork and design skills through scrums, kanban boards, and agile development.
HomeHealth Roles
Throughout the summer I was tasked with researching 50 different roles within ChristianaCare's HomeHealth department. To do this I gathered information from different accredited sources online and through shadowing various roles within the home. With this research I was asked to make user personas for each role within the department to be used for projects for HomeHealth in the future. During these tasks I learned a lot about the UX research process including but not limited to ideas like:
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When shadowing different roles in the home you can learn a lot about the ins and outs that online research does not reach - it is valuable
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Researching roles that are similar in nature can be difficult but careful reading and interviews can make that difference
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The average demographic for roles should be considered, but a variety of demographics for the same role is important to help every user
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User persona goals, concerns, behaviors, and personality all go hand in hand and should have relation to one another
These ideas will help me continue to improve my user research as well as the presentation of them through user personas and other visuals. They are incredible applicable to all fields of work. Two examples of the personas I made are included below.
AI Companion Robots
The other large chunk of my internship was studying AI companion robots, but specifically Intuition Robotics' companion robot ElliQ. As this is a newer robot that is gaining popularity my goal was to test it out and compare it to other robots found inside the home. I spent a fair bit of time talking to ElliQ and learning all of her applications - taking note of her strengths and flaws. In addition to ElliQ I studied Apple's Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home comparing their attributes to that of ElliQ. At the end of all of this I put together a slide deck analysis of what ElliQ can do, as well as what could be improved. After this I took away a few ideas to hold onto:
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When working with a product where I am not the intended user I need to be able to change my thoughts and actions to fit that intended user
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While exact competitors might not exist, it is just as valuable to research products that have potential to become that competitor
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The background, components, and setup information are a part of the user experience just as much as the main use of the product itself
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Research needs to go into what kind of tests are run, especially for comparing products as some products can be tested in ways others cannot
Side Projects
Besides the main two research projects, I was asked to attend to various other tasks within the Innovation Center. I helped research articles on new technologies, wrote up features for the UI on new softwares in the office, edited a slide deck on a diversity and equity course, filmed an educational video on bag technique for HomeHealth employees, and created a placement for patients to perform at-home urinary catheter irrigations. Below are two editions of the latter:
What I Learned
This internship was incredibly rewarding and gave me an exciting look into an innovation center and what user research and design looks like in the office. After the completion of this internship I have taken a lot with me that I will carry to every project I complete
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Communication is incredibly valuable
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When working with a team it is necessary to convey what is being worked on and how it is being worked on. This summer I learned the importance of a kanban board, daily scrums, and constant communication throughout a project. Not only did this help me complete my tasks, but it also aided that of others and allowed the office to move in a more productive way.
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User research is a wide and continuous process
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While 50 roles to research this summer seemed like a lot, even with many similar roles, every different person is a separate kind of user that needs to be considered. These roles are also always changing through different times, but especially through the different people that fill them. Any information about one user can represent many.
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Innovation does not just include physical inventions
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I found myself doing more graphic design this summer than I had anticipated in an Innovation Center, but the designs themselves were also inventions. The slide decks and placements might not be high tech, but their creation can help teach users something new and can be repurposed and can be turned into something physical
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Thank you for reading!
