Applying design thinking to identify needs of reminder aids for elderly patients.

Most elderly people are frequently affected by disease; generally, the elderly begin to experience a decline in physical condition, resulting in various physical and mental changes, and they are easily affected by illness, so they must take medications on a regular basis and according to the proper schedule. However, there are still elderly people who take medication irregularly because their memory is starting to weaken. Early signs experienced by the elderly who suffer from memory skills are forgetting about information that has just been obtained or learned and often having difficulty completing daily work routines, so it is necessary to develop a research on products that help the elderly in carrying out regular drug-taking activities without need help from people to remind them. In this research, the design thinking method was used, namely identifying the wants and needs of 20 elderly people while taking medication and identifying them according to the first stage of design thinking empathy, through interviews and direct observation at the Guido Valadares Hospital in Timor-Leste. After the first stage, the author enters the second stage, which is define to describe the user's view which will be the basis of the product to be made. With the first and second stages already, the author will enter the third stage, namely ideate to describe the required solution. This study aims to describe each stage of design thinking in the design of reminder aids for the elderly in an effort to create appropriate and effective solutions to the problems faced by patients at Guido Valadares Hospital Timor-Leste. This study uses a qualitative approach with descriptive analysis. The result of this study is that with a good design thinking process, this research has resulted in a solution for patients in the hospital by designing an image of a proposed reminder tool that helps patients take medication regularly. The implementation of the design thinking stage that was carried out was not optimal due to material constraints so that it did not reach the prototype and test stages for users, and the author only used three stages of design thinking (empathy, define, and ideate), without reaching the prototype and test stages does not affect the results of the identification using the design thinking method. In designing a reminder tool, it is hoped that it can help patients at the hospital to take medication on time and can check heart rate and oxygen levels in the body when needed, the product is expected to be easy to use so that users can use it easily. Reminder tools can assist users with audible alarm sounds for reminders. The reminder aid product also has a large screen so that users can see the time easily and can see the results of checking heart rate and oxygen levels and the results of subsequent alarms. The reminder aid has a button that can set the next alarm so that it helps the patient easily. Reminder aid products also have additional partitions to divide medication in the morning, noon, or evening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]