Module overview
In this module, Global Healthcare Innovation and Design, the set of potential needs will come from the outcomes of the earlier Principles and Practice of Global healthcare for Medical Innovation module. You (and your team) will undertake a screening and prioritisation process to decide which need to take forward; this would consider the relevant contextual information, stakeholder insights, and other factors relating to the relevant global healthcare space. You will do this following the framework outlined in the Responsible Innovation in Health Technology module. You will then undertake an ideation process to generate concepts for potential solutions. Critically applying a spiral innovation process, you will narrow these down to a single solution which you will then progress to prototype and test. Drawing upon the knowledge gained in the parallel Responsible Business Development and MedTech Commercialisation module, you will develop a business plan for the solution. At the end of the module, you will be required, as a team, to pitch your solutions to a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders. Throughout the module, you will maintain a portfolio and reflective log which will form part of the final assessment. All students would meet on a weekly basis with their supervisors and other stakeholders.
The Global Health project will be focused on a low- middle-income country (LMIC). You will work with very different stakeholders compared to the UK, understanding that care pathways are subject to the healthcare professions that exist in that country. For example, many doctors are generalists who work in hospitals in major cities, and this requires patients to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, for the care they need. This is also dependent on whether patients can afford to pay for this travel and treatment. The allocation of funding in some LMICs means there is no continuous care pathway and this impacts both the quality of patient experience, and the local and global economy. Fully understanding the challenges of care in LMICs also requires a detailed cultural awareness. During this project, you will also learn about the wider macroenvironment surrounding international aid for LMICs and how this can have a positive and negative impact on the sustainability of health services in those countries, as well as any solutions you propose within your projects.