So Far… – 2nd Post
Coming into this course I expected us to be given a clinical area to shadow in and basically be handed a problem that needed to be solved with an obvious solution. So far that is not the case, and I have found out that I enjoy the class much more because it is not. The PHP enlightened me on what kind of empathy it takes to help someone achieve a goal and just how important their perspective is on that goal. Someone may say that they want to do something or need help fixing something in their life. They also give you ideas about how you should fix it, but the PHP made me realize this often isn’t the root problem or solution. The act of interviewing and questioning my partner, at the beginning of the process, allowed me to really delve into why it is a problem and how it became one. Which in turn helped drastically with designing the interventions. Basically what I am trying to get at is that trying to come up with a solution or fix to a problem is much more that just getting a problem and brainstorming solutions. The empathy and perspective from the patient is just as, if not more, important as the problem.
This brings me to how I am starting to realize why we have been focusing solely on observing while shadowing and only coming up with possible need areas, almost halfway into the semester. I feel like I already have much more perspective on problems in the PICU, NICU, and developmental pediatrics. Some things that I was looking for and thought would definitely be problems, even after shadowing, turned out not to really be that important or needed. Being able to talk to Dr. Frank after observing and discussing observations with friends really affected my need areas. For instance a majority of problems are systemic, political, and social in nature. But I definitely have a much better grasp on design now than I would have if we just started jumping into solutions for ‘very apparent’ problems within pediatrics. So I am looking forward to the rest of the semester on the medical design portion of the class.
BME Design 