Microsoft Design Expo 2020
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Team Zuri
Microsoft Design Expo 2020 Brief
Designing for a Healthier Future
Science and technology continue to have a tremendous impact on healthcare, yet our global population health index is far from satisfactory. We believe technology can play an even more central role in getting care to those left behind, to improve clinical workflows preventing care providers from being overwhelmed, and driving better and faster patient outcomes.
Your design leadership can scale the impact on a healthier future and benefit all humankind - across a wide range of entities, namely Partnerships, Patients, Providers, Payors, Platform, Pharma, and Policy giving.
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The Big Question:
How can we motivate and support patients and caregivers to more effectively manage their health conditions?
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The Task:
Design a product, service or solution that enables a healthier future for select stakeholders and/or users.
Demonstrate a creation that is innovative, maps back to a clear need, and leverages current or near-term feasible technologies.
Our Research
We focused on the public healthcare system in South Africa.
After conducting interviews with patients and healthcare workers we identified the following key findings:
Long Waiting Lines
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Lack of Privacy
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Lack of Staff
Meet Nandi
We created a persona to set the scene and to help us understand a patient's reality in South Africa's healthcare system.
Testimonial Evidence
The quotes below emphasise that there is still a stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, and that there is a real need for privacy in public healthcare facilities as it can hinder one from managing their health effectively.
"I know about a girl, she grew up with me, she is HIV positive. She goes to a clinic far away from her neighbourhood for medication because she is shy."
"In their culture, there is really a stigma attached to HIV. They call it witchcraft but they not going to say it's HIV."
"Yes I had a cousin and he was HIV positive. I didn’t know about it until a month before he died, I thought whatever was in the book was wrong with him. But not for a split second did I realise he was HIV positive and he was in total denial and because he was in denial he died because he didn’t want to go to the clinic for medical treatment. And he isn’t the only guy, I had a driver, we buried him 2 years ago, because of that. He didn’t want to go for medication because they have that pride - it is anything except for HIV."
Our Process
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The image above illustrates our design thinking process. We used Miro to collaborate and ideate. From our design thinking process, we came up with the following key insight and wicked problem.
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Key Insight:
The structure and system in many clinics and hospitals do not protect patients' privacy or confidentiality.
This demotivates patients to seek medical treatment as they know their health status will be disclosed to the community.
Wicked Problem:
How might we help protect the identity and health status of patients in order to motivate and support them to manage their health better?
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Our Idea
The Zuri Buzzer System
How It Works
When the patient arrives at the hospital or clinic, this buzzer is linked to their identification number at check-in and the patient will keep the buzzer with them while they wait. When it is their turn it will buzz and show which room number to go to on the screen. There is a built-in interactive screen because we are also incorporating gamification and educational materials into the buzzer.
Problems Addressed
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Privacy is protected - your name is no longer announced for everyone to hear and no one knows the room you need to go to.
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Waiting is more bearable - you have something to distract yourself with while you wait.
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The work has become easier for the staff - they don’t have to worry about calling patients and the patients will be more calm and less frustrated and loud because they have something to keep themselves busy with.
Meet The Team
Every time our team was finished with a section and felt good about it our team member, Antonio, would announce ‘beautiful’ in his cool, calm, and collected tone. This is when we knew that we were good to carry on to the next step. We then took the word beautiful and looked for an African language we could translate the word in to. Swahili is the most widely spoken language in Africa and "zuri" is the Swahili word for beautiful.
This is how our name came about. Team Zuri.
Thys De Beer
Senior Lecturer
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Design Thinking Facilitator
Antonio Druchen
Brand Strategist
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Alexandra Kotchoubei
Brand Strategist
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Alexandra Gutman
Brand Strategist
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Jia Qi Wu
Brand Strategist
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