Finals Beginning
So tomorrow I have my first final in one of the most boring subjects known to man: Probability and Statistics. Studying for this for the past few days has been painfully boring and, in all honesty, I’m not expecting to do well. However, today I gave myself a reasonable excuse to stop studying in order to work on my design video with my group.
Maybe I’m really just stressed right now, but taking a break from hours alone in the library has made me start looking at everything through a “design lens.” For example, I was just going through one of exams from this semester and I was given the answer but not the solution. This problem had me shaking in the library because I was so mad. But I went through multiple iterations of this process trying to apply different concepts that showed up on practice exams, homework problems, etc. After about 30 minutes of this pain, I finally came up with the correct answer. But the point is I actually got the answer on my own, by looking to see at how I failed in other tries. Now I actually feel more prepared for the exam because the mistakes help me realize other concepts that I was struggling with.
That brings me to the point of this blog post. One thing I have personally found frustrating this semester is the wide range of opinions that my group has heard from encounters with nurses. Despite bringing in small prototypes and explaining our ideas with drawings, it always seemed like “the golden idea” to one nurse was another nurses worst nightmare. There wasn’t even really a middle ground with the opinions that we heard. But now, with less than a week left of school, I’m beginning to realize that its probably a good thing that we are getting such differing opinions. First of all, I feel like it means that the solution to this problem isn’t as trivial as it may appear, yet the problem is definitely present. Although the nurses all seemed to agree they do not like the current method, there are so many diverse characteristics between an individual nurse. Finding the problem to the solution isn’t as easy as listing options A, B and C. It is going to require a more hands on approach and collaboration with the “client” (i.e. nurses) in order to figure out that. Additionally, the differing opinions will likely expose other problems in the hospital. For example, one nurse may have a strong dislike towards technology designs because there are existing pieces of equipment that use technology unnecessarily and prove to be more inconvenient than helpful.
Overall, I’m realizing how important iterations truly are in the process of design. Whether the design is to solve a math problem or health care issue, it is important to look at the problem from multiple aspects. Although failing and having prototypes turned down is discouraging, it is necessary in order to determine the proper and most effective solution.
BME Design 