The recent kerfuffle and the hefty $300 million price tag for the federal government-run HealthCare.gov highlight that there's a serious need for innovation in health care. The fraught industry is primed for a technological revolution ' and we believe that product design can help bring that about. Which is why we're stoked to host the Ignition hackathon for the second time this year!
Teams will have 48 hours to get a jump start on solving problems in caregiver support, medical advice and end-of-life planning. The opportunity for other designers: to mentor these teams, guide them through this challenge and turn the health care on its heels.
The Problems These Teams Will Solve
Design teams will work over two days to flesh out concepts to solve these particular problems. They'll present their early concepts. If a team's idea is chosen, then they'll get one week to build a prototype, which they'll pitch to potential investors such as Cambia and Regence.
Let's break down exactly what challenges the hackathon teams will be facing:
1. Caregiver Support
Take 10 folks who are 65 years or older and you'll find that four of them worry about becoming an unnecessary burden to their children.
The opportunity: What technologies and tools can we create that ease this burden and give these folks the care that they need?
2. Understanding Medical Advice
Sometimes it's not easy understanding what your doctor's telling you. There's a lot of jargon that we have to wade through. And it doesn't get any easier as we get older because our cognitive abilities to process complex information decreases as we age. It doesn't help that our diagnoses also get more complex.
The opportunity: What solutions can we develop for a widening senior population to better understand a doctor's advice?
3. End-of-Life Planning:
According to Prebacked, organizers of the hackathon, 75% of doctors haven't discussed life expectancy with elderly patients who have a chronic serious illness.
The opportunity: How can we facilitate conversations to ensure wishes are honored?
Darnit, Jim, I'm a Designer, Not a Doctor
It sounds like a daunting task for a designer. After all, most designers aren't medical experts. But then again, was Jack Dorsey an expert in payments when he revolutionized the world of payments with Square? He's a designer, not an accountant. He didn't use his background as an excuse. He used it to his advantage.
These entrepreneurial teams can benefit from the design process. And other designers can help coach them so they can take complex ideas and tie it back to human needs. You can help infuse these teams with design thinking during the early stages, from ideation to paper prototypes.
Designers can leverage their expertise in strategizing and designing interactions and visuals for web apps, native apps and marketing sites to help these teams revolutionize health care.
Are You In?
Join us this weekend and work with passionate entrepreneurs and industry-thought leaders to solve the grand challenges of our time. You'll be helping solve the big, hairy problems in health care!
When:
Saturday & Sunday, October 26th - 27th, 2013
Doors open at 11:30 AM on Saturday, October 26th
Doors open at 10:00 AM on Sunday, October 27th
Where:
ZURB HQ
100 Rincon Ave
Campbell, CA 95130