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Patient Therapy Controller

Abbott Patient Controller

People with Abbott's neurostimulation implants adjust their own therapy from a controller app. In early 2019 it ran on a dedicated iPod touch, carried next to their own phone. At a design workshop with Abbott's team I led the design of what it could be on iPhone: a controller that shows where your therapy sits in the range your clinician set, so the limit is something you can see before you reach it.

Role
Design DRI, Apple Consulting Engineering
Years
2019
Deliverables
Interaction Design, Design Workshop, iPhone Prototype
Three iPhone X screens from the 2019 design, blue. In front, the right side at its maximum: 2.25 at the top of the scale, labelled Maxed Stim, the up button dimmed and the down button active. Behind it, choosing a side, Left 2.25 or Right 2, and the left side at 2.25 with room to go up.

One question per screen

The people using this controller live with Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor or chronic pain. They open it to turn therapy down, turn it up or switch it off, often on a bad day and sometimes with a tremor.

So the flow asks one thing at a time. Is my therapy running? Which side? Up or down? Each screen has one main action, in large type, on one plain colour.

Status screen on teal: Hello Roger, your device is ok and your therapy is running currently, with a Change Therapy button
Is my therapy running?
Side screen on blue: Roger, which set of therapy would you like to change? Two cards, Left 2.25 and Right 2, over the line Tap a Side of Therapy
Which side?
Left Therapy at 2.25: a scale from 2.0 min stim to 2.55 max stim down the left edge with the marker partway up, an up button, a down button and Turn Off Therapy
Up or down.

Where you are in your range

Every adjustment screen draws that side’s range, from the lowest to the highest setting the clinician allows, and marks the current value on it. The value moves up the scale as the strength goes up, so you can see how much room is left before you touch anything.

Left Therapy at 2.25: a scale from 2.0 min stim to 2.55 max stim down the left edge with the marker partway up, an up button, a down button and Turn Off Therapy
2.25, partway up a range of 2.0 to 2.55.
Left Therapy at 2.35: the marker and value sit higher on the same scale from 2.0 to 2.55
2.35. The value climbs the scale toward the top of the range.

The limit, before you reach it

Each side has its own range. At 2.25 the left side has room to go up, and the right side is at its ceiling. The screens show the difference, so nobody has to remember which side has which limit.

At the maximum, nothing new appears. The value reaches the top of the scale and reads Maxed Stim. The increase button dims where it is and keeps its size, so nothing under the thumb moves. Decrease and Turn Off Therapy look exactly as they did one tap earlier.

Left Therapy at 2.25: a scale from 2.0 min stim to 2.55 max stim down the left edge with the marker partway up, an up button, a down button and Turn Off Therapy
Left: 2.25 sits mid-range, 2.0 to 2.55.
Right Therapy at 2.25: the value sits at the top of the scale, labelled Maxed Stim, with the up button dimmed in place and the down button and Turn Off Therapy unchanged
Right: 2.25 is the top of the range, 2.0 to 2.25. Increase dims in place.

What happened next

In July 2020 Abbott announced FDA approval for its Patient Controller app on compatible personal iPhones, so patients no longer need to carry a separate controller. The screens on this page are the 2019 designs from the Apple engagement, not the app Abbott released. The same year at Apple I also redesigned Delta’s app for its flight attendants.

Client
Abbott, through Apple Consulting Engineering
Workshop
January 2019
Designs
iPhone, March 2019

Next case study

Delta →An internal app for Delta's flight attendants, rebuilt around the day in the order it happens.

Contact

Want to talk about Abbott Patient Controller? Email me.

© 2026 Nick Sloggett

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