P. Sushmani, N. Fujimoto
Medication nonadherence remains a persistent challenge in chronic disease management, contributing to preventable hospitalizations, disease progression, and escalating healthcare costs. This teaching case study describes a semester-long capstone project in which undergraduate information systems students applied human-centered design principles to develop a mobile application prototype intended to support medication adherence among patients of a community pharmacy network. The pedagogical framework guides students through five structured laboratory assignments spanning empathy research, problem framing, ideation, prototyping, and stakeholder presentation. Each assignment draws on established design thinking methods, while situating the technical work within the realities of patient behavior, pharmacy workflows, and digital health validation. Student teams conducted contextual interviews, developed requirements matrices, and built interactive mockups using industry-standard wireframing tools. The case is suitable for upper-division information systems or health informatics courses and can be adapted for introductory courses by narrowing the scope of individual assignments. Discussion questions address both the healthcare and technical dimensions of the project, encouraging students to consider regulatory constraints, monetization strategies, and the ethical responsibilities inherent in health-facing technology. This paper presents a reusable pedagogical instrument that bridges the gap between abstract design-thinking instruction and the applied demands of digital health development.
Pearl Academic Publishing. All rights reserved.
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