Throughout the fall term, I have been mainly conducting literature reviews about many different topics in healthcare technology and the barriers that come in the industry. See my weekly updates here.
I’ve read a lot of different articles and case studies about many different topics including:
Through this research, I have accomplished a lot of things to be proud of. My first and best accomplishment of this term has been expanding my barrier map which you can see here.
As I look at even more case studies and start compiling my research, I hope to expand on this map which I can then start using next term when I start looking at ways to overcome these barriers. I am making a few different versions of this barrier map in order to make sure I get a fully comprehensive picture of everything that must be considered when trying to break out into the world of healthcare technology.
Another accomplishment I am really proud of from this past term is my weekly blog posts and updates. During my literature review, I felt pretty overwhelmed for the first few days but then I realized that I should take time to focus on one thing at a time. This helped me with my blog posts because I was able to talk about one topic every week and looking back at them all, I can see a clear progression of how I built up my research from one week to the next. They also helped me stay accountable for the research I was doing and made sure that I was actually doing something useful every week which was helpful for me. See my weekly updates here.
One of the most difficult obstacles I have encountered through the first term of this project is making sure I keep a clear focus of what I want this project to accomplish. Through my research, I have found a lot of different elements that need to be fixed in order for healthcare tech to be an environment where startups have the chance to get off the ground and are not stopped before their project is even complete. However, I realize that I cannot do everything, especially within the limits of a senior capstone, so I have been forced to narrow down my goal from what it was originally. Instead of creating an entire toolkit and collecting user stories and creating solutions to every problem, I am now hoping to debut such a toolkit in a social entrepreneurship class in the spring where I can discuss solutions collaboratively with students in order to create a well-rounded solution manual. One of the biggest challenges I have seen in my research of why healthcare tech startups fail is not developing with the customer. Through this approach, I am hoping to overcome that barrier by creating solutions with entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurs. This is a relatively new idea that I have had as I research my project more and more but I know that my advisors can help make this possible.
My immediate next steps for my capstone project are to finish up my literature review by January 18th. For the next week or two, I will work on expanding my barrier map as much as I can and working on my IRB application. I also hope to work more closely with my advisors in order to get a formal partnership started with the Close School of Entrepreneurship and see what an in-class partnership can look like. I imagine that I have to get this process started pretty quickly because teachers plan their courses in advance so I will be working with Dr. Gonul and Mr. Quitel to see if this can be incorporated into either of their classes or a different class through Close.
While this past term has been very stressful, it has also been very rewarding. When I was starting my senior capstone, I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time or vision to create a project I loved and was inherently proud of. Luckily, this past term has taught me that I was very, very wrong. Though I started off in a place where I was unsure of what I wanted to do, I have come to very thoroughly enjoy doing this research and explaining my capstone project to others. I have also received a lot of good feedback about the relevance of this project to my major and in the healthcare technology world. I also think this term has challenged me a lot by bringing back a lot of the classes I have taken through my major but also forcing me to learn new things. I am very sure that this project will be a great culmination to my time in Custom Design. I believe I did some good work this term and am excited to see what winter term brings.