Wichita State University
Rural Health Design Challenge
Industry Partner
We partnered with the Kansas Business Group on Health (formerly HealthICT) for this Design Challenge. With funding provided through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), KBGH collaborates with healthcare providers to develop team-based care approaches to care delivery in which non-physician team members are empowered to handle the more predictable, routine tasks in patient care to ensure consistency and to allow the physician to focus on the more severe patient issues.
On May 8th, The College of Innovation and Design hosted a Design Challenge in partnership with the Kansas Business Group on Health focused on finding solutions for improving health monitoring in rural areas. Multiple interdisciplinary teams competed in this one-day challenge for a portion of $4,000 prize money. This virtual challenge was open to everyone and brought together Wichita State students and community members seeking solutions through a series of exercises designed to help teams explore and iterate ideas into a viable solution.
In the end it was a team of students Phillip Zavala, Val Gurung and Clara Jackson that won the top prize with there idea for a system approach that utilized pop-up clinics in popular locations within rural cities. These pop-up clinics would serve as a way to conviently distribute technology and information to patients in small towns and rural areas.
The Design Challenge utilizes design thinking methodology for rapid idea generation for well-defined problems. Each semester we host a Design Challenge on various topics such as sustainability. Look for details on the College of Innovation and Design web page and social media