Lars tells us about the course: HealthZup
Innovative solutions in the health sector
During the course HealthZup, students from Medicine and Health Informatics, are introduced to innovation processes in healthcare. The innovation model follows the principles of BIOX/Bio Design from Stanford University. This model has been locally and culturally adapted, supported by the Foundation for Entrepreneurship, in order to function in a European context and in a more healthcare design-oriented course.
During the course the students use their respective subject knowledge in relation to each other with a focus on diseases, technology, innovation, organization and user interfaces, and epidemiology. The course is built on an innovative model that involves:
1) identification
2) Innovation
3) implementation
– Where subject knowledge is of fundamental importance for understanding the area. Along the way, the students work with ethnographic methods to understand the needs that must be solved.
Focus on practical experience and knowledge from the outside world
The course uses lecturers on average 3 hours per week, and they all have a background from the outside world. Many of them are not university affiliated. Teaching assistants are also selected along the way based on practical experience and knowledge in parallel areas such as prototyping.
The students also have a connection to the field, where they conduct ethnographic observations. Lars Kayser explains; “The students are divided into teams, and each team is associated with a hospital department where they conduct field observations for a whole week and then return to the hospital repeatedly to validate their impressions and the solutions they are working with.”
Group dynamics
The course introduces students to the concept of teams and team dynamics through a 4-hour session with an external professional consultant with extensive experience in this field and with a health science background. Based on JTI-profiles the teams are composed, and then they spend some time to reconcile their own visions, strengths and weaknesses and discuss strategy with each other. The students also learn to accept each other’s differences and over time find strength in their diversity. The process is supported by requiring a weekly personal diary that is part of a portfolio, which is included in the basis for the exam.