Digital Physiotherapy

Product Design at EQL

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Phio products tackle several business challenges in both the public and private health sectors.

Waiting times for GP appointments, which are the gateway to physiotherapist treatment, and the time referral comms can take lead to delayed treatment early on in the injury phase. This has an effect on the injury and prolongs the healing cycle resulting in longer treatment times, a higher risk of long-term conditions, and stress on resources.

NHS

The main objective of private insurers is reducing the cost of using a human physiotherapist whilst providing a convenient and effective treatment for their patients.

PRIVATE INSURERS

BEHAVIOURAL GOALS

TRUST BUILDING

The first hurdle is making a patient feel comfortable using a digital solution for their condition instead of a face-to-face physiotherapist.

SELF EFFICACY

Making people believe they are capable of healing themselves is a critical part of the success of this care path.

HABIT FORMING

Creating a new habit is notoriously challenging and is required for the daily physiotherapy exercises to be completed. Clear goal setting and progress tracking will help patients engage in their treatment.

The target behaviour is the completion of daily physiotherapy exercises as part of a physiotherapy treatment plan. Below are three things we identified that will help achieve this goal.

SHIFTING BEHAVIOUR WITH THE COM-B MODEL

Being a patient usually entails some feelings of vulnerability and people are used to seeking an authoritative medical figure to heal. We were trying to convince them they can heal themselves using a digital solution.

We used the COM-B model of behaviour to identify what needs to change in order for a behaviour change intervention to be effective. It identifies three factors that need to be present for any behaviour to occur: capability, opportunity and motivation.

NHS MSK Experience Map

EQL is an innovative health tech startup focussing on building healthcare products that elevate people's lives.

Long waiting times, limited resources, and poor connectivity between practitioners and patients make access to MSK services inefficient and cumbersome. This results in excessive costs and less-than-optimal health outcomes.

I worked on a solution that consisted of two products.

PHIO ACCESS

Phio Access is a digital physiotherapy triage designed to streamline the diagnosis and referral process.

PHIO ENGAGE

Phio Engage is a digital physio assistant designed to guide patients through their physical recovery.

HOW WE MADE IT HAPPEN

Creative and Design

Research and Discovery

New Product Development

INTUITIVE UI

User-friendly UI that is easy to understand provides immediate feedback and guides patients through the digital triage.

REFINING ASSESSMENTS

Phio's MVP conversational chatbot takes a patient through a series of questions structured in a decision tree, the foundation for the implementation of differential AI in future releases.

The tone of voice and choice of words were important to gain patient trust and medical authority.

PATIENT CHALLENGES

Living with the uncertainty and discomfort of their condition for the duration of trying to access GP and physio appointments can have a negative psychological impact on recovery.

Patients often feel they get more out of the face-to-face physio appointment that occurs every few weeks during their recovery than the home exercises they are prescribed when in reality the treatment is the same. This is down to having a medical authority guiding them through the same exercises, being accountable by having to show up to the appointment, and the lack of self-efficacy when performing the exercises by themselves at home.

The exercises patients are asked to complete at home are often provided on paper and are lost. There is also a lack of understanding of how these exercises help the injury recover, especially because the experience of completing them is painful.

Living with pain that limits daily tasks and not understanding their condition beyond the physio exercises creates a less-than-optimal mindset for pain management, motivation towards the process, and faith in recovery.

PERSONAS

User personas were created to understand who would be using this service and what they would need from it.

Phio Access is a digital physiotherapy triage designed to streamline the diagnosis and referral process.

REDUCE WAITING TIMES

AI DIAGNOSTICS

REDUCE WAITING TIMES

AI DIAGNOSTICS

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSTICS

The “Aha“ moment for our patients, is understanding their condition and what they need to do to get better. Giving them a clear understanding of what their condition might be is key and so is signposting them to the most suitable carepath.

By doing so we ensure they move to the next step of their recovery journey rapidly, increasing their chances of a full recovery.

A TAILORED PROGRAMME

Phio Engage provides patients with an exercise programme bespoke to their injury guided by videos and voice instructions.

COMPUTER VISION

Computer Vision ensures the exercises that require precision to be effective are performed correctly. It also monitors the patient's range of movement and calculates the improvement over time.

BOOST MOTIVATION

Finding the motivation to do their exercises is often challenging for patients. We focused on providing a clearer understanding of the process and gamification design such as badges, rewarding patients when they engage with their rehab, and daily streaks to create a sustainable behaviour change.

INFORM PATIENTS

Providing the patient with more detail about healing their injury compared to the standard physiotherapy carepath increases interest and engagement in the recovery process.