#13 | Evaluation of existing solutions

As stated in blog post #11, the previous thoughts on my research journey were accompanied by doubts about the relevance and ability to make a serious contribution to the current state of research. To overcome these doubts, I allowed myself to dig deeper into the application areas mentioned that I could possibly focus on:

1. Ad Hoc First Aid Care Collaboration with the Public
2. Semi-Ad Hoc Care Collaboration During Transportation
3. Prior Education for Secondary Caregivers at Workplace/School

The „Ad Hoc First Aid Care Collaboration with the Public“ approach still interests me the most and is the area that is most in demand according to the experts¹. This is why I started here.

Ad Hoc First Aid Care

In my research last semester, I realized that there are very few solutions when it comes to mobile applications and wearable technology. Some seem to be poorly designed, others are still in the concept stage, or seem to be no longer in operation. I looked at the following solutions in particular:

• Seizure First Aide by the Epilepsy Foundation Minnesota²
• Dialog by the artefact group³
• Aura: Seizure First Aid by PT. Supremasi Astadaya Sentosa⁴
• Medistat Seizure SOS by Saksham Innovations Private Limited⁵

For the evaluation, I made a comparison of how these solutions matched the results of my previous research. Early on, I realized that the only serious candidate I could consider, according to my findings and the experts‘ recommendations, was Aura: Seizure First Aid. By coincidence, the designers had the same idea for the app as I did and were inspired by the same content provided by the Epilepsy Foundation.⁶

Evaluation of Aura: Seizure First Aid

Aura: Seizure First Aid’s core features include the following:

This application addresses the following findings and recommendations as follows:

Conclusion

All in all, Aura: Seizure First Aid already meets the majority of my findings. The app is reduced to providing a general step-by-step approach to securing a person with epilepsy with a great user experience. The affected person has to start an alarm by simply tapping on the app. Their smartphone will then alert nearby bystanders to help and make a decision if an ambulance is needed. As soon as the seizure is over, the process ends with thanking the first responders for their help.

Because epilepsy comes in many different forms, it is highly individualized for each person. Participants in the study expressed a desire to provide bystanders with individually relevant information. Therefore, a mobile app could also allow users to customize the information displayed.

In addition, the general public rarely knows where to look for medical information about a person experiencing a seizure. Therefore, making the information more visible and accessible could be another addition. This could start on the lock screen of the phone.

Stories from people with epilepsy reveal a desire to thank bystanders after they have helped. Sometimes this is not possible because the person has not regained consciousness yet. Providing an extended way to contact helpers after a seizure could be another meaningful contribution.

Next steps

Taking into account my findings, the given app can be extended to meet the needs of a similar target group that values customizability when it comes to shared emergency information. This could be an approach where I can start working on a paper prototype.

Resources

1. Aehong Min, Wendy Miller, Luis M. Rocha, Katy Börner, Rion Brattig Correia, and Patrick C. Shih. 2021. Just In Time: Challenges and Opportunities of First Aid Care Information Sharing for Supporting Epileptic Seizure Response. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW1, Article 113 (April 2021), 24 pages. https: //doi.org/10.1145/3449187 ↩︎
2. Seizure First Aide. Apple App Store. Epilepsy Foundation Minnesota. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/seizure-first-aide/id1018276687 ↩︎
3. Dialog. Artefactgroup. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://www.artefactgroup.com/case-studies/dialog/ ↩︎
4. Aura: Seizure First Aid. Apple App Store. PT. Supremasi Astadaya Sentosa. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aura-seizure-first-aid/id1564615234
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5. Medistat Seizure SOS. Apple App Store. Saksham Innovations Private Limited. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/medistat-seizure-sos/id1630889725 ↩︎
6. Seizure Recognition and First Aid Certification. Epilepsy Foundation. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from https://www.epilepsy.com/recognition/seizure-first-aid ↩︎