design lab uc san diego dexcom automation

A New Partnership Seeks to Inject User Trust into Diabetes Management Technology

A New Partnership Seeks to Inject User Trust into Diabetes Management Technology

A New Partnership Seeks to Inject User Trust into Diabetes Management Technology

Advances in healthcare technology are revolutionizing the management of diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring systems paired with automated insulin delivery pumps mean repeated finger sticks, blood testing and self-administered insulin injections are quickly becoming things of the past.

While on one hand automation means freedom—giving some diabetics more options to fit their busy lifestyles than ever before—it also brings new issues for patients and caregivers alike. One of these issues is trust.

(DIY Designer OpenAPS “rig” – Courtesy of OpenAPS founder Dana Lewis)

A new partnership between the UC San Diego Design Lab and Dexcom is tackling the trust issue with a pilot project that aims to understand, measure and design for trust in healthcare automation.

“Rapid technological advances in the automation of insulin delivery offer tremendous promise for people living with the disease. Engendering the right level of trust in these new technologies is critical,” said Tomas C. Walker, Senior U.S. Medical Director with Dexcom. “Dexcom is committed to improving the lives of people living with diabetes and we are proud to partner with UCSD on this project.”

Medical Technology Designed for People

The team, led by Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, director of the Center for Health Design, Design Lab fellow Lars Mueller and Ben West, a project manager at Dexcom and diabetes patient himself, is re-thinking how healthcare technology is designed.

“When we speak of trust in relation to healthcare automation, we mean the willingness to rely on a device, accepting some vulnerability, with the expectation of a positive outcome,” Mueller explained. “Technology is unlikely to be used if not trusted. We have to understand and measure how trust is formed to build systems that not only work, but are used in the complexity of daily life.”

To do this, they are integrating human-centered design methods that place the needs of people at the forefront. The first step is listening to diabetics to understand their daily challenges, as well as what’s working.

During the first year of the pilot project, Aronoff-Spencer and Mueller are busy in their lab at the Qualcomm Institute gathering and analyzing feedback from dozens of patients, their families, caregivers and others. Once finished, they will begin creating and delivering the next generation of user-centered products alongside Dexcom.

“People struggle with this disease every day. And while our ultimate goal is to cure diabetes, which will take time, the next best step is to make it as manageable and invisible as possible,” Aronoff-Spencer said. “Delivering technology that works with people, and that people trust will work for them, is a significant step forward and one that’s incredibly exciting.”

For more information on this project and the Center for Health Design, visit http://c4h.ucsd.edu/.

Advances in healthcare technology are revolutionizing the management of diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring systems paired with automated insulin delivery pumps mean repeated finger sticks, blood testing and self-administered insulin injections are quickly becoming things of the past.

While on one hand automation means freedom—giving some diabetics more options to fit their busy lifestyles than ever before—it also brings new issues for patients and caregivers alike. One of these issues is trust.

(DIY Designer OpenAPS “rig” – Courtesy of OpenAPS founder Dana Lewis)

A new partnership between the UC San Diego Design Lab and Dexcom is tackling the trust issue with a pilot project that aims to understand, measure and design for trust in healthcare automation.

“Rapid technological advances in the automation of insulin delivery offer tremendous promise for people living with the disease. Engendering the right level of trust in these new technologies is critical,” said Tomas C. Walker, Senior U.S. Medical Director with Dexcom. “Dexcom is committed to improving the lives of people living with diabetes and we are proud to partner with UCSD on this project.”

Medical Technology Designed for People

The team, led by Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, director of the Center for Health Design, Design Lab fellow Lars Mueller and Ben West, a project manager at Dexcom and diabetes patient himself, is re-thinking how healthcare technology is designed.

“When we speak of trust in relation to healthcare automation, we mean the willingness to rely on a device, accepting some vulnerability, with the expectation of a positive outcome,” Mueller explained. “Technology is unlikely to be used if not trusted. We have to understand and measure how trust is formed to build systems that not only work, but are used in the complexity of daily life.”

To do this, they are integrating human-centered design methods that place the needs of people at the forefront. The first step is listening to diabetics to understand their daily challenges, as well as what’s working.

During the first year of the pilot project, Aronoff-Spencer and Mueller are busy in their lab at the Qualcomm Institute gathering and analyzing feedback from dozens of patients, their families, caregivers and others. Once finished, they will begin creating and delivering the next generation of user-centered products alongside Dexcom.

“People struggle with this disease every day. And while our ultimate goal is to cure diabetes, which will take time, the next best step is to make it as manageable and invisible as possible,” Aronoff-Spencer said. “Delivering technology that works with people, and that people trust will work for them, is a significant step forward and one that’s incredibly exciting.”

For more information on this project and the Center for Health Design, visit http://c4h.ucsd.edu/.

Advances in healthcare technology are revolutionizing the management of diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring systems paired with automated insulin delivery pumps mean repeated finger sticks, blood testing and self-administered insulin injections are quickly becoming things of the past.

While on one hand automation means freedom—giving some diabetics more options to fit their busy lifestyles than ever before—it also brings new issues for patients and caregivers alike. One of these issues is trust.

(DIY Designer OpenAPS “rig” – Courtesy of OpenAPS founder Dana Lewis)

A new partnership between the UC San Diego Design Lab and Dexcom is tackling the trust issue with a pilot project that aims to understand, measure and design for trust in healthcare automation.

“Rapid technological advances in the automation of insulin delivery offer tremendous promise for people living with the disease. Engendering the right level of trust in these new technologies is critical,” said Tomas C. Walker, Senior U.S. Medical Director with Dexcom. “Dexcom is committed to improving the lives of people living with diabetes and we are proud to partner with UCSD on this project.”

Medical Technology Designed for People

The team, led by Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, director of the Center for Health Design, Design Lab fellow Lars Mueller and Ben West, a project manager at Dexcom and diabetes patient himself, is re-thinking how healthcare technology is designed.

“When we speak of trust in relation to healthcare automation, we mean the willingness to rely on a device, accepting some vulnerability, with the expectation of a positive outcome,” Mueller explained. “Technology is unlikely to be used if not trusted. We have to understand and measure how trust is formed to build systems that not only work, but are used in the complexity of daily life.”

To do this, they are integrating human-centered design methods that place the needs of people at the forefront. The first step is listening to diabetics to understand their daily challenges, as well as what’s working.

During the first year of the pilot project, Aronoff-Spencer and Mueller are busy in their lab at the Qualcomm Institute gathering and analyzing feedback from dozens of patients, their families, caregivers and others. Once finished, they will begin creating and delivering the next generation of user-centered products alongside Dexcom.

“People struggle with this disease every day. And while our ultimate goal is to cure diabetes, which will take time, the next best step is to make it as manageable and invisible as possible,” Aronoff-Spencer said. “Delivering technology that works with people, and that people trust will work for them, is a significant step forward and one that’s incredibly exciting.”

For more information on this project and the Center for Health Design, visit http://c4h.ucsd.edu/.

Read Next

Seda Evis

Designer in Residence: Seda Evis

While Seda Evis participates as a Designer-in-Residence at UC San Diego with The Design Lab, and is VP of Strategy & Growth at FreshForm Interactive—an experience design and innovation consultancy—she also claims to have what she refers to as a superpower: her hybrid mind, which she describes as the combination of two worlds: the business side and the design side.

As a Designer-in-Residence at The Design Lab,  Evis enjoys working in an interdisciplinary setting, which she says enhances her existing skillset. “Academia tends to be quite separate from how the practice is done,” she explains. “I find ways of doing interdisciplinary work, as well as cross industry work, very important for innovation because that’s how you actually get seeds from different places.” As of now, most of Evis’s work at The Design Lab has been working with the Community Team on the now winning bid for the World Design Capital 2024 (WDC) designation. Her work dovetails with her role on the Board of  Directors for the Design Forward Alliance–a non-profit organization started by the Lab in partnership with the regional design community and one of the partners co-leading the HOME 2024 WDC efforts alongside the Design Lab, Burnham Center for Community Advancement, the City of San Diego and the City of Tijuana.   The designation puts the San Diego-Tijuana region in a prestigious international cohort recognized for the “effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural and environmental development.”  Even the proposal theme is significant, Evis says. “Home” not only refers to the immense and diverse communities of San Diego and Tijuana that form one, but also serves as an acronym for Human-centered, Open, Multi-disciplinary/Multi-cultural, and Experimental. For Evis, participating in HOME2024 signifies her career “coming full circle.” 

Derek Lomas and Philip Guo Recognized by Premier International HCI Conference

UC San Diego Design Lab members Derek Lomas and Philip Guo were recently recognized by…

UCSD Giving Day

Giving Day Begins Now. Support the Design Lab Today

Through the integration of education, research and community development, The Design Lab is committed to advancing the best practices needed to solve the world's complex problems through the lens of human-centered design.  One way we do this is through our thriving Design@Large speaker series.  Via conversations with distinguished academic, industry, and community design leaders, Design@Large showcases the ever-evolving, interdisciplinary nature of design as applied in real world contexts.  Today we are asking for your specific help to continue to build and grow this popular series which is open to all.

Frontier Design Prize Announces Winners at World Design Cities Conference

Shanghai, September 15, 2022 | The Frontier Design Prize announced the winners of its inaugural edition during the opening ceremony of the World Design Cities Conference (WDCC).  Mr. QU Xing, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. GONG Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai, Ms. XU Xiaolan, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology (China), along with leading designers, scholars and industry leaders, attended the award ceremony. The Frontier Design Prize (FDP) is a visionary, innovative, world-class design award established with the aims of encouraging design innovation, enhancing the impact of design in driving industrial transformation, and promoting the role of design in shaping a better world. A central program of WDCC, it is undertaken by Design Innovation Institute Shanghai (DIIS) with guidance from the Shanghai Municipal Government. 
Anna McCowan Melanie McComsey Ucsd Design Lab

UK Markey Center and UCSD Seek to Improve Cancer Care with LAUNCH

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans living in rural areas are more likely to die of cancer than their counterparts in urban settings, which sets them apart from the many communities nationwide that have experienced a 20 percent decrease in cancer mortality over the past two decades. In Appalachia, the cancer picture is bleaker than in other rural parts of the country. Between 1969 and 2011, cancer incidence declined in every region of the country except rural Appalachia, and mortality rates soared.

This week (Monday, June 17th, 2019) an Innovation Studio workshop was held at the PRTC center announcing a program called LAUNCH.
Design Lab Ucsd Elderly

Design for older people sucks. Here are four ways to fix it

Digital Arts editorial with Stefan Sagmeister and Design Lab Director Don Norman on designing for sixty-somethings.

Beginning in May, Alive Ventures launched a series of ongoing panels titled “Old People are Cool, Design for Them Sucks”, aiming to open up a discussion with the design community on how to better design for older adults. John Zapolski, founder of Alive Ventures, and design thought leader Ayse Birsel of Birsel + Seck, hosted the series of discussions, with guests including design luminaries such as Stefan Sagmeister and Don Norman.

“When I would visit him in retirement homes, I would see people who needed walkers and wouldn’t use them because it was a stigma,” said Norman. “They were so ugly and it sort of shouts out to the world, ‘Hey I’m old and crippled and therefore probably feeble minded as well,’ right? Well no, it’s wrong. And so I noticed that, but I didn’t pay much attention until I myself reached my eighties and started looking at my friends and other things and realised that, yes, people shunned a lot of things that are being made to help them because they don’t like to admit publicly they have problems.” - Don Norman
Back To Top