Neophytes - GR1: Analysis

Observation & Interviews

Person_#1- Athletic Trainer for MIT Athletics (Main User)

The person being interviewed/observed is a medical professional, more specifically an athletic trainer, at MIT. They deal with many physical injuries every day, and have to coordinate with doctors for injuries that they deem more severe. We learned many useful techniques for diagnosing physical injuries, as well as key signs to look for. He also enlightened us to the potential legal issues of this product, but for now since we are focusing on UI design, we will ignore these. The particularly interesting moment for this interaction was when he was diagnosing a hurt ankle that was severely swollen and discolored. He had a few ideas of the cause but to be sure, he quickly snapped a picture and sent it to a MIT doctor. Within minutes the doctor had responded in a text giving him his diagnosis/advice. This revealed to us that maybe the Medical process is not as efficient as it could be.

Person #2 - Student Trainer for MIT Athletics (Main User)

This student trainer works alongside the main athletic trainer. She is only here for one season, which she says is the standard for student trainers. Whereas the main trainer deals mostly with diagnosis and therapy design, the student trainer is often the one to oversee the athletes going through their exercises. They also are required to record the pain level and ease at which the exercises are completed. It was interesting to note that the student trainer interviewed said there is at least one or two exercises on every therapy program that she is unsure of. To resolve this issue, she has to ask the head trainer to demonstrate the exercise. She noted this is a pretty common occurrence.

Person #3 - Head Trainer (Secondary User)

The head trainer is responsible for overseeing the training room, all the athletic trainers, and the athletes. The head trainer interviewed said one of his biggest concerns is recording and documenting all the treatments being performed. The budget he receives is directly correlated to the gross amount of treatments received by all athletes. To help record all this information, he has computers at each end of the training room to have athletes log in the treatment they received. He also said that he has all the athletic trainers manually enter in treatments missed by the athletes.

User Classes

We have chosen 3 user classes:

Trainer - The main class of users that our application will focus on. Trainers work with athletes rehabbing injuries through physical therapy.

Head Trainer - The head trainer supervises other trainers by reviewing their treatment plans. He is also responsible for budgeting and oversees recording of treatments.

Student Trainer - The student trainer oversees the athlete going through their exercises and records the athlete’s progress.

Needs & Goals

- Create a customized exercise program quickly
- Modify an existing exercise program
- Track athlete’s progress
- Share exercise program with athlete
- Share an overview with the Head Trainer
- Collaborate and use exercise programs designed by other trainers
- Provide cumulative statistics on therapy programs