Learnings in Digital Health Design: Insights From a Pilot Web App for Structured Note-Taking for Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Patients fail to accurately remember 40% to 80% of medical information relayed during doctor appointments, and most standard after-visit summaries fail to effectively help patients comply with behaviors to manage their health conditions. The value of technology to empower and engage patients in their health management has been shown, and here we apply technology to help patients remember and act upon information communicated during their medical appointments.

Objective: We describe the development of WellNote, a digital notebook designed for patients to create a customized plan to manage their condition, plan for their appointments, track important actions (eg, medications and labs), and receive reminders for appointments and labs.

Methods: For this pilot, we chose to focus on rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic condition that relies on many of these features. The development of WellNote followed a structured method based on design thinking and co-design principles, with the app built in close collaboration with patients and a physician partner to ensure clinical relevance. Our design process consisted of 3 rounds: patient and physician interviews, visual prototypes, and a functional pilot app.

Results: Over the course of the design process, WellNote's features were refined, with the final version being a digital notebook designed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis to manage their health by helping them track medications and labs and plan for appointments. It features several pages, like a dashboard, patient profile, appointment notes, preplanning, medication management, lab tracking, appointment archives, reminders, and a pillbox for medication visualization.

Conclusions: WellNote's active and structured note-taking features allow patients to clearly document the information from their physician without detracting from the conversation, helping the patient to become more empowered and engaged in their health management. The co-design process empowered these stakeholders to share their needs and participate in the development of a solution that truly solves pain points for these groups. This viewpoint highlights the role of digital health tools and the co-design of new health care innovations to empower patients and support clinicians.