March 12, 2025 • 7 mins
This week on BioTech Nation, Dr. Daniel Kraft explores how smarter design can make healthcare easier, less stressful, and more effective. From hospitals built for patient comfort to medical apps that adapt to your needs, the way we experience healthcare is evolving. Learn how design thinking and empathy are shaping the future of medicine.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Moira Gunn (00:11):
I'm Moira Gunn. You're listening to TechNation.
Are we adapting to thetechnology of health care, or is
the technology of health caresupposed to adapt to us?
TechNation Health chiefcorrespondent doctor Daniel
Kraft is clear about what'ssupposed to happen. Well, hey,
Daniel.
(00:31):
Good to see you.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (00:32):
Hi, Moira.
Dr. Moira Gunn (00:33):
Now this just occurred to me because I
actually had a change in an appon my computer, and, so we had
to interact all differently. Andsometimes I feel like things are
designed for us to make ourlives better and to do functions
we wanna do. And other times, Ifeel like, well, I'm adjusting
everything I need to do to getit to work the way I want. I
(00:56):
don't feel like this app wasdesigned for me. I was
wondering, is there some, Idon't know, application or or
transfer over in the the healtharea?
Dr. Daniel Kraft (01:10):
I think you're touching on the sort of meta
element of sort of designthinking and empathy meets
health care design. Right? Somany of what we work with. If
you're right handed or lefthanded, you might need a
different setup on your laptopor in your kitchen. And that
reminds me, a couple weeks ago,I was at a Design Meets
Healthcare Conference in SanDiego, and I met doctor Patricia
(01:32):
Moore, who's often called themother of empathy.
She's a real, she's a legendarydesigner. And what one of the
things she's best known for iswhen she was a young designer,
she sort of, decided to see whatit's like to be an older person.
So she kinda became agerontologist based designer and
would put on clothes and outfitswhen she was in her thirties. It
(01:54):
made it look like she was in herseventies that included the
ability to make it harder forher to see and to move. And from
that, she developed a lot ofempathy for what it was like to
be someone with mobility issuesin their seventies or eighties
or nineties and then helpeddesign solutions for older
folks.
So this idea of being literallyin someone else's shoes, I
think, can help designers andinnovators of all sorts not
(02:14):
build the one size fit allsolution, whether it's the user
interface on your app or, youknow, how you design a walking
stick. Lots of potential now tohave design meet health care in
in much more, human centricways. I think you might find if
you're an older person andyou've let and mobility issues,
some of the clothes might haveto go in differently. You might
not be able to function withcertain buttons or certain forms
(02:35):
of zippers. Just like, you know,when my kids were before they
could tie their shoes, haveshoes that have Velcro in them.
You design for the age and thecapability of the individual. I
think we're starting to see thisnew kind of interesting age of
what's often called a humancentered approach, to solving
for problems as well as to bringthat design thinking aesthetic
to our entire healthcareecosystem. Because, you know, a
(02:58):
lot of what we use, everythingfrom the operating room to the
clinic can be re redesigned toreally meet the person using it.
Or now in this sort of digitalAI enabled age, provide an
interface that really matchesthe age, the culture, the
language, the personality type,the incentives of someone who
might be using that product,that app, that device, or that
(03:20):
medical intervention.
Dr. Moira Gunn (03:21):
Now do you have any examples of how design is
this human centered design ishitting health care?
Dr. Daniel Kraft (03:27):
Sure. I mean, if any of you have been
unfortunate to be a a patient ina hospital, a lot of traditional
hospital rooms are sort ofjumbled pieces of of, medical
equipment and furniture. And, Ithink the next generation of
hospitals, like Stanford is abrand new one, when my father
had a total knee replacement ayear ago, you could tell that
there's some thought into howthey designed that room for the
(03:51):
experience of not just thepatient, but their family
members. Maybe it's a a pulloutcouch or a better easier to
access, remote control thatdoesn't get lost. So things like
flexible lighting and, natureviews out the window to make
that sort of often sterileclinical space feel a bit more
private and a good place for forhealing, including managing
(04:13):
interruptions and noise andlighting.
So that's an idea of a patientcentered room design. Back to
before you even get to the,hospital bed, you know, many of
us have been stuck waiting forhours in an emergency department
or at the DMV, right, waiting toget your license renewed.
Dr. Moira Gunn (04:29):
Oh, torture.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (04:31):
So how do you how do you design, that
experience in the emergency roomfor better triage and better
workflow, not just for thepatient and their families, but
for the emergency room staff andhelp, the flow from getting into
the OR to out of the OR. And nowthat's being redesigned with new
workflows using, you know, smarttablets, giving someone the
equivalent of a a wristband thatbuzzes when it's their turn so
(04:53):
they don't need to sit in thewaiting room and get sick from
everybody coughing around them.Those are other kind of examples
of of smart design elements. I'mtrained as an oncologist. We
know that many oncology patientsget stuck sitting in a sterile,
scary place getting theirinfusions.
Well, some folks, even someDisney Imagineers, have worked
with Disney and and Children'sHospital of of California, and
(05:15):
they've made these sort ofinfusion centers with beautiful
walls that have movies played onthem or now being able to put on
their virtual reality headset.So you can make these sort of
clinical experiences more,empathetic and less stressful
for for everybody involved. Andthen, you know, no one likes to
have a disease, particularlychronic diseases like diabetes.
You don't get to take a break.So how do you design kind of
(05:37):
sometimes, engagement tools for,let's say, a type one diabetic
who has to check their bloodsugar and manage their insulin
so that the design reallymatches the age of that
individual?
If they're a teenager, they'regonna want a different kind of
interface than someone in theirforties or fifties. How do you
learn and crowdsource data andencourage people to contribute
so that the next levels ofdesign interfaces and data and
(06:00):
and utility are better? Thoseare a few kind of design
thinking elements. And thenwhat's interesting now in the
era of design thinking, I, youknow, I went to medical school
at Stanford. There's a famous dschool, design school now.
Now you're finding, for example,physicians working with
undergraduates, meetingcommunities that have, you know,
low resource capabilities orhave rare diseases and learning
(06:22):
from the need knowers or maybethe the need knowers, the
patient or their family member,and doing hackathons and
designing solutions that can bebuilt or three d printed. So I
think we're starting to see thisdemocratization of design
thinking. You don't have to havea design degree. You don't need
to be a a a clinician, but youcan be the need knower yourself
and inspire others or yourselfto design solutions that can be
(06:44):
a better pillbox to take yourmeds or a better, handle for the
walker for grandma to to nothave a fall or a tumble. So I
would encourage everyone tostart having a design thinking
aesthetic, to be a little bitempathetic and to start to
integrate new ways of not justsolutions, but the ways that you
interact with those solutions tobuild a better health care world
for all of us.
Dr. Moira Gunn (07:04):
Well, that's just terrific. It makes me feel
so much better. Yeah. And I lookforward to you coming back.
Thanks for coming in, Daniel.
Alright.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (07:11):
See you next time.
Dr. Moira Gunn (07:13):
Technation Health chief correspondent,
doctor Daniel Craft, is thefounder and chair of NextMed
Health on the web atnextmed.health and
digital.health. More informationabout Daniel at daniel craft m d
dot net.
I'm Moira Gunn. You're listening to TechNation.
Are we adapting to thetechnology of health care, or is
the technology of health caresupposed to adapt to us?
TechNation Health chiefcorrespondent doctor Daniel
Kraft is clear about what'ssupposed to happen. Well, hey,
Daniel.
(00:31):
Good to see you.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (00:32):
Hi, Moira.
Dr. Moira Gunn (00:33):
Now this just occurred to me because I
actually had a change in an appon my computer, and, so we had
to interact all differently. Andsometimes I feel like things are
designed for us to make ourlives better and to do functions
we wanna do. And other times, Ifeel like, well, I'm adjusting
everything I need to do to getit to work the way I want. I
(00:56):
don't feel like this app wasdesigned for me. I was
wondering, is there some, Idon't know, application or or
transfer over in the the healtharea?
Dr. Daniel Kraft (01:10):
I think you're touching on the sort of meta
element of sort of designthinking and empathy meets
health care design. Right? Somany of what we work with. If
you're right handed or lefthanded, you might need a
different setup on your laptopor in your kitchen. And that
reminds me, a couple weeks ago,I was at a Design Meets
Healthcare Conference in SanDiego, and I met doctor Patricia
(01:32):
Moore, who's often called themother of empathy.
She's a real, she's a legendarydesigner. And what one of the
things she's best known for iswhen she was a young designer,
she sort of, decided to see whatit's like to be an older person.
So she kinda became agerontologist based designer and
would put on clothes and outfitswhen she was in her thirties. It
(01:54):
made it look like she was in herseventies that included the
ability to make it harder forher to see and to move. And from
that, she developed a lot ofempathy for what it was like to
be someone with mobility issuesin their seventies or eighties
or nineties and then helpeddesign solutions for older
folks.
So this idea of being literallyin someone else's shoes, I
think, can help designers andinnovators of all sorts not
(02:14):
build the one size fit allsolution, whether it's the user
interface on your app or, youknow, how you design a walking
stick. Lots of potential now tohave design meet health care in
in much more, human centricways. I think you might find if
you're an older person andyou've let and mobility issues,
some of the clothes might haveto go in differently. You might
not be able to function withcertain buttons or certain forms
(02:35):
of zippers. Just like, you know,when my kids were before they
could tie their shoes, haveshoes that have Velcro in them.
You design for the age and thecapability of the individual. I
think we're starting to see thisnew kind of interesting age of
what's often called a humancentered approach, to solving
for problems as well as to bringthat design thinking aesthetic
to our entire healthcareecosystem. Because, you know, a
(02:58):
lot of what we use, everythingfrom the operating room to the
clinic can be re redesigned toreally meet the person using it.
Or now in this sort of digitalAI enabled age, provide an
interface that really matchesthe age, the culture, the
language, the personality type,the incentives of someone who
might be using that product,that app, that device, or that
(03:20):
medical intervention.
Dr. Moira Gunn (03:21):
Now do you have any examples of how design is
this human centered design ishitting health care?
Dr. Daniel Kraft (03:27):
Sure. I mean, if any of you have been
unfortunate to be a a patient ina hospital, a lot of traditional
hospital rooms are sort ofjumbled pieces of of, medical
equipment and furniture. And, Ithink the next generation of
hospitals, like Stanford is abrand new one, when my father
had a total knee replacement ayear ago, you could tell that
there's some thought into howthey designed that room for the
(03:51):
experience of not just thepatient, but their family
members. Maybe it's a a pulloutcouch or a better easier to
access, remote control thatdoesn't get lost. So things like
flexible lighting and, natureviews out the window to make
that sort of often sterileclinical space feel a bit more
private and a good place for forhealing, including managing
(04:13):
interruptions and noise andlighting.
So that's an idea of a patientcentered room design. Back to
before you even get to the,hospital bed, you know, many of
us have been stuck waiting forhours in an emergency department
or at the DMV, right, waiting toget your license renewed.
Dr. Moira Gunn (04:29):
Oh, torture.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (04:31):
So how do you how do you design, that
experience in the emergency roomfor better triage and better
workflow, not just for thepatient and their families, but
for the emergency room staff andhelp, the flow from getting into
the OR to out of the OR. And nowthat's being redesigned with new
workflows using, you know, smarttablets, giving someone the
equivalent of a a wristband thatbuzzes when it's their turn so
(04:53):
they don't need to sit in thewaiting room and get sick from
everybody coughing around them.Those are other kind of examples
of of smart design elements. I'mtrained as an oncologist. We
know that many oncology patientsget stuck sitting in a sterile,
scary place getting theirinfusions.
Well, some folks, even someDisney Imagineers, have worked
with Disney and and Children'sHospital of of California, and
(05:15):
they've made these sort ofinfusion centers with beautiful
walls that have movies played onthem or now being able to put on
their virtual reality headset.So you can make these sort of
clinical experiences more,empathetic and less stressful
for for everybody involved. Andthen, you know, no one likes to
have a disease, particularlychronic diseases like diabetes.
You don't get to take a break.So how do you design kind of
(05:37):
sometimes, engagement tools for,let's say, a type one diabetic
who has to check their bloodsugar and manage their insulin
so that the design reallymatches the age of that
individual?
If they're a teenager, they'regonna want a different kind of
interface than someone in theirforties or fifties. How do you
learn and crowdsource data andencourage people to contribute
so that the next levels ofdesign interfaces and data and
(06:00):
and utility are better? Thoseare a few kind of design
thinking elements. And thenwhat's interesting now in the
era of design thinking, I, youknow, I went to medical school
at Stanford. There's a famous dschool, design school now.
Now you're finding, for example,physicians working with
undergraduates, meetingcommunities that have, you know,
low resource capabilities orhave rare diseases and learning
(06:22):
from the need knowers or maybethe the need knowers, the
patient or their family member,and doing hackathons and
designing solutions that can bebuilt or three d printed. So I
think we're starting to see thisdemocratization of design
thinking. You don't have to havea design degree. You don't need
to be a a a clinician, but youcan be the need knower yourself
and inspire others or yourselfto design solutions that can be
(06:44):
a better pillbox to take yourmeds or a better, handle for the
walker for grandma to to nothave a fall or a tumble. So I
would encourage everyone tostart having a design thinking
aesthetic, to be a little bitempathetic and to start to
integrate new ways of not justsolutions, but the ways that you
interact with those solutions tobuild a better health care world
for all of us.
Dr. Moira Gunn (07:04):
Well, that's just terrific. It makes me feel
so much better. Yeah. And I lookforward to you coming back.
Thanks for coming in, Daniel.
Alright.
Dr. Daniel Kraft (07:11):
See you next time.
Dr. Moira Gunn (07:13):
Technation Health chief correspondent,
doctor Daniel Craft, is thefounder and chair of NextMed
Health on the web atnextmed.health and
digital.health. More informationabout Daniel at daniel craft m d
dot net.
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