Hacking Health Tech – All Sci, No Fi

Can you find a way to increase efficiency in surgical procedures?

Surgical procedures take place in thousands of hospitals every day. Surgeries encompass a significant number of protocols and measures - some more, some less, depending on the specific procedure. That, combined with the volume of surgeries currently taking place, has resulted in the delay of surgical procedures, causing hospitals to search for ways to drive efficiency in the operating room to avoid surgery delays.

 Efficiency in a surgical procedure is a measure of the time and effort required to perform a surgery. Hospitals often assess efficiency to determine case volumes, room turnover times and rates, or patient anesthesia times. 

Surgeons also evaluate efficiency so they can provide the best possible care to the largest number of patients given the limited amount of time they can spend in the operating room. They have found a few key areas that help improve their efficiency, including but not limited to:

• Resource utilization: having the required materials and team members present in the operating room.
• Time management: a properly scheduled day, respecting start times.
• Minimal waste:  reducing the number of unused materials in the operating room.
• Process optimization: having a well-coordinated team during the surgical procedure.

 Task

Identify ways to leverage technology that improves and/or optimizes operating room efficiency, decreasing delays in surgical procedures.

> Minimum

    1. A presentation that answers the following: 

• What did you decide to optimize?
• What's your solution?
• How's the market?
• What’s the business model?
• What are the resources needed?

     2. The prototype

     3. The code

> Advanced

     4. A video explaining the solution (optional)

Can you develop wearable technology that connects and protects data to meet these challenges?

Wearable technology has gone mainstream. We can see this in the increased use of artificial intelligence and remote biosensors in our professional and personal lives, propelled by the rapid uptake of devices such as the Fitbit. Consumers are getting used to wearables and using the same as an opportunity to improve their wellbeing and wellness.

This has led to the health sector’s investigation of and subsequent implementation of wearable technology for different therapeutical areas.

Wearable devices are increasingly adopted to improve patient care pre, during and post-treatment. They help to collect health data remotely and analyze it at scale, allowing solutions to come from different places, which in turn, revolutionizes the patient experience and health for all.

A large variety of wearables is currently available in the marketplace, from watches and fitness devices to glasses and headsets. Connecting data from all those different sources, as well as protecting data quality, creates several challenges, including:

• How should a health ecosystem be built? One that healthcare professionals and hospitals can leverage to enable better treatment and care of patients.
• How can a credible, user-friendly experience be created to engage patients?
• How should the data from different wearables be connected to build a quality database that can be used to improve the patient journey or help solve health issues?

Task

Identify ways to leverage wearables to enable building a health ecosystem and improve the patient journey.

> Minimum

    1. A presentation that answers the following: 

• What are the resources needed?
• What’s the business model?
• How's the market?
• What's your solution?
• What did you decide to optimize?

     2. The prototype

     3. The code

> Advanced

     4 . A video explaining the solution (optional)