Problem
200,000 People die every year due to medical errors. Doctors are stuck using unoptimized systems that drain them while most data is siloed across a handful of companies. 80% of medical errors are traced back to distraction, stemming from unintuitive design.
Key Learnings
This was my first big problem that I analyzed deeply. Solving these complex problems takes a lot of work, even if the causes are very silly.
- Don't stop at one stat. You may think you cracked the main cause of problem, but spend time to go deeper. Here, it seemed better protocols were the answer until deeper digging revealed different issues.
- Look for resources laterally, not linearlly. When I started focusing on the doctor's perspective, rather than academic papers by institutes and organization, the answers became much more clear.
- Clearly communicate why simple changes are yet to be made. Making a better interface seems like a reasonable task, but companies are in control and are focused on predictive abilities over better design.