Table of contents (Vol 3, No 8)

Healthcare Design Innovations
 

Whether design innovations are glaringly successful, produce discrepant outcomes, fail to achieve intended outcomes or are still being evaluated, the line defining success or failure in design, especially in healthcare design, is iterative, fickle and often difficult to navigate. As such, collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts involving multiple users can serve to inform innovative design solutions that augment healthcare delivery while addressing some of the critical issues facing the healthcare industry.

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By Joshua Schoonover, James Rodolfo Shraiky

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Technology and the Healthcare Crisis
 

This essay argues that although most industrialized countries are now looking at cost-effectiveness analyses as the best way to make rational choices between various medical technologies, such tools do not address the problem at its root. Solving healthcare financial problems requires creating innovations that embody a more thoughtful set of values. Three examples of medical advances (management of low-birth weight babies, stem cell research and in-vitro fertilization) are used to illustrate how their design may reinforce certain values and not others.

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By Pascale Lehoux

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The Digital Stethoscope
 

This research challenges the concept of a telehealth stethoscope by raising questions about the ease and confidence with which doctors could use such a device.

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By Ben Kraal, Vesna Popovic

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Heath Services System Improvements
 

This paper has described research focused on identifying opportunities for generic design improvements to stroke unit outcomes using data collection and analysis tools from a design research toolbox and a user-based perspective on the health service.

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By Terence Love

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Rethinking Design and Supporting Innovation
 
Focusing on the lived experience of users offers the product developer a significant resource to bridge the gulf between existing product solutions and future design outcomes that will enhance quality of life for all. Material landscapes need to be more empowering. Built environments need to consider users with various sensorial abilities. By including the marginalised voice now, we will be instilling the product developers of tomorrow with valuable insight, awareness, and sensitivity to their target users.

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By Deana McDonagh, Joyce Thomas

Abstract
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Service Improvement for Older People
 
An outpatient service extends beyond both the clinical encounter and the physical extent of the building, with many touchpoints before and after an appointment, such as confirmation letters, journeys, wayfinding, and staff interactions.  These significant interfaces and interactions constitute critical factors in the experience of patients and staff, and impact upon the ability of the service to perform its clinical role.

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By Daniel Wolstenholme, Mark R Cobb, Simon J Bowen, Peter C Wright, Andy M Dearden

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Design and Medical Device Purchasing Processes
 

The value of using design approaches in both researching and designing healthcare systems is recognised in various circles, and further demonstrated in this study. These methods are especially useful in contexts where various stakeholders are involved in decision-making and yet aiming towards the same vision of providing safe and efficient care

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By Saba Hinrichs, Terry Dickerson, John Clarkson

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RESEARCH

Prevalence of Diabetes in Haryana
 

Prevalance of diabetes in urban Haryana is less as compared to other Indian states. Also the prevalence of diabetes is higher in females. Prevalence is influenced by age, education, occupation, socioeconomic status and marital status.

 

By Varun Arora, Jagbir Singh Malik, Pardeep Khanna, Noopur Goyal, Naresh Kumar, Manjeet Singh

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Nutritional status in rural Karnataka
 
Malnutrition is still an important problem even among children attending government sponsored maternal and child care Anganwadi centres in India. Further improvements in functioning of Integrated Child Development Services need to be made in order to address the problem of malnutrition.

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By Sanjay Pattanshetty

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BRIEF REPORT

Australia the Healthiest Nation
 

The National Preventative Health Taskforce has set a 30% target reduction in the proportion of risky and high-risk drinkers by 2020. This study estimated the potential saving in deaths, hospitalisations and associated economic cost savings to premature mortality and health of achieving the target.

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By Tanya Chikritzhs, Steve Whetton, Mike Daube, Richard Pascal, Michaela Evans

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Medicon 2010: The Missing Domain
 

Medicon 2010 is an annual flagship medical students' research conference of The Forum for Medical Students' Research (India). This is a conference report of Medicon 2010 hosted at PSGIMSR Coimbatore (India)

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By Devika Prasanna, Akshay Sharma

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CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Conference Abstracts: Medicon 2010
 
Third International Medical Students’ Research Conference of The Forum for Medical Students’ Research (India), INFORMER. Coimbatore, India, 9-12 June 2010. Conference Abstracts.
By Akshay Sharma

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the Editor
 
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is of the sight threatening ocular diseases having public health implications in India because an estimated 57 million people in India may be diabetic by 2025. This study highlights the prevalence of DR in type 2 diabetics among a small population in Chennai in relation to various risk factors.
By Aishwarya Parthasarathy, C. R. Anand Moses, S. Padmanabhan

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