Yesterday I listend to the episode Innovating healthcare by the Service Design Podcast. It features Brian Desplinter and Jurgen De Klerck who are collaborating at AZ Groningen, a hospital in Belgium, about healthcare innovation, with a focus on the use of 5G technology for advancements.
They mention that co-creation of solutions for challenges across hospitals and industries are vital for innovations. In health care the potential of messing something up is extremely risky. Especially in highly stressful environments like the hospital.
Something that was super interesting to me was that Brian was asked to shadow medical departments. Over the course of a year he watched the daily activities of the doctors and nurses in different departments to see where there were problems and to come up with new ideas. I’m curious to find out if this innovation center of the hospital in Belgium is comparable to anything here in Austria.
The challenges in healthcare are evident worldwide due to the eldering society which leads to the shortage of staff. This calls for innovative ideas to make processes in health care more efficient. The guests on the podcast mention that innovation is not only about technology. Its how you integrate the technology into the system.
Nowadays the demands and standards from patients are much higher than 10 years ago. People want to have seamless experiences but innovation is slower in healthcare because the bureaucracy that is tied to healthcare is always a problem.
The podcast touches on the use of VR in healthcare, such as in speech and aggresion therapy, highlighting the potential for creating optimal, controlled environments. The future of healthcare, they suggest, will likely be heavily influenced by wearable and on-demand technology.
Looking at the current state and future of healthcare, the speakers articulate the need for a more preventative approach, maintaining health rather than treating disease. They believe the way forward lies in closer collaboration between service designers, healthcare professionals, and patients.
The episode ends with Jurgen stating that people interested should send him a message and he can give them insights of their work of the hospital over a coffee. I’m kind of intrigued to see if he can stand up to this offer. Maybe I will travel to Belgium soon…
Link to the episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Te3pgrvYndt1KEr0l7BlV?si=c55b231243e94747
No AI was used to create this blog post.
