LifeFlight
A new app that allows for emergency responders to request a helicopter at the tap of a button.
Vanderbilt Hospital approached me to lead creating a mobile app experience for their emergency responders division called LifeFlight. These first responders are the super heroes of our world, transporting everything from patients to medically appropriate hospitals to life saving organs and medical supplies. Yet, they didn’t have an efficient and reliable way to actively receive emergency flight requests.
My role was to work closely with the LifeFlight team as well as our new software partner called Softtech Inc. who was responsible for the tech behind marrying the app with its flight-dispatching system. As a lead product designer, I was responsible for the UX process, user interface, and overall creative direction.
View in App Store
Below showcases highlights of the project. For case studies and more in-depth analysis of my work, my leadership approach to managing design teams, and how I manage feedback from key stakeholders and C-Suite executives, please reach out for a comprehensive walk through.
Our team spent months white boarding, sketching, and concept work in Sketch and InVision while collaborating with product stakeholders across Vanderbilt Hospital and the Android and iOS development teams.
We were able to start presenting concepts to real customers, our emergency responders. Being able to user test was crucial to receiving feedback early on in our process so we can continue to iterate our designs and change the experiences to better suit our customers.
Tap of a button
Simply tapping the “flight call” button on the app sends users’ information to Vanderbilt LifeFlight that includes their GPS coordinates, name, organization, and other information the user is able to type into a text box.
This information pops up as a new “mission strip” on a computer screen at the LifeFlight Communications Center, where personnel are monitoring the computer-aided dispatch software (Flight Vector). A visual and voice alert that a new flight request has been received by a mobile app user” is also triggered.
Once the aircraft has been launched, the emergency responder who made the request will receive a notification on the app that shows which aircraft has been dispatched, and a map will display with the estimated flight time and estimated time of arrival. A red line will appear on the map with the projected flight path.
Other key highlights: receive push notifications from LifeFlight on education and upcoming training events, access to LifeFlight’s training event calendar, a hospital directory and a landing zone guide.
“Vanderbilt Hospital has been so impressed with the LifeFlight app and its ability to interface with dispatch that it will release a similar version to other hospitals across the country. Each version of the app can be configured to be specific to the area for each customer’s flight program.”
- LifeFlight team
