Debra J. Levin

This was my first TEDMED and it was just a deluge of information that just kept coming and coming – and everything was more interesting than the previous.

I attend a lot of other conferences and events and I was impressed at how TEDMED brings all of these diverse pieces together to create a whole that’s much greater than the sum of its parts. I really think that forcing the speakers to distill their messages into short 15 minute presentations helped accomplish that.

The enthusiasm and interactions that happen at TEDMED don’t always happen at other events — I’m inspired and wondering how we can learn from them and infuse some of that spirit into other events that I’m involved in…

Another thing is how optimistic I felt when I left. My world is filled with very smart people, the movers and shakers who are creating the next generation of healthcare facilities. I walked away from my TEDMED experience so motivated and excited about this next generation and our future.

It was thrilling to listen to people in their early 20s who are coming up with amazing ideas – and not just thinking about them but executing them. I’m happy and excited about our future.

Another strong takeaway for me is that the future is not about the solo inventor – it’s about collaboration.  The answers to the complex problems that we’re facing in healthcare and design today  will need to be solved via collaboration. The whole concept of “crowd sourcing” is very interesting. Using multiple, often unrelated or unconnected people, ideas and technology — bringing people together from around the world to solve problems — clearly seems the way we’ll need to be working in the very near future.

Finally, since most of the delegates come from and are much immersed in the medical and technology fields it was really interesting –– frankly everyone you talk to at TEDMED is really interesting – that they didn’t really know what we – as healthcare designers do – and never really gave much thought about the role that environments and design can play in health and wellness.

So it was great to see the lightbulbs go on when I had the chance to talk with them about the role of the built environment in the future of health and wellness!

That philosophy of lifelong exploration and education is central to Nurture’s mission and our commmitment to help our customers and partners develop the best possible healthcare environment solutions.

It’s evident in our recent involvement in TEDMED 2012 as well as our sponsorship support of last week’s IIDA Healthcare Education Day.

The Education Day was produced by HealthCare Design Webinars  in conjunction with the Center for Health Design and the IIDA, with CEU credits offered for both architects and interior designers.

Nurture’s Bill Coble, EDAC, who leads Nurture’s design alliances, was able to welcome approximately 300 attendees (per webinar) to a series of excellent online presentations including:

• Impacting Health Care: Green Codes & Guidelines: Janet Rhode and Michael Sheerin discussed the basics of sustainability guidelines, as well as standards and codes that will impact the design, construction, and commissioning of health care environments.
• Retail Centers for Healthcare: Jocelyn Stoupe talked about the surge in ambulatory design & construction and the trend toward community based care facilities with retail center convenience.
• Integrating the Process: Architecture – Operations – Technology: Joyce Sensmeier and Debbie Gregory  discussed how to effectively integrate technology in new design projects by incorporating key IT, clinical, biomedical and facilities representatives into the design process to appropriately prioritize technology investments.
• Infection Control vs. Sustainability in a Healthcare Environment:  Janet Kobylka and Debi Fuller  addressed the tension between sustainable initiatives and best practices in infection control and offered alternatives that are less hazardous for both people and the environment.

Attendee response to the webinars has been outstanding and Nurture will be looking for similar opportunities to bring valuable information to our partners later this year.

Watch the Nurture blog as well as follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay abreast of upcoming educational opportunities.

Philosopher and author Julia H. Gulliver said, “Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.”

The Nurture blog just talked with Allison Berry, director of operations for C2C, and she reported that the container / clinic has arrived in the Namibian port of Walvis Bay and that site preparation work is underway.

“As you might expect, even doing relatively simple things like getting the ground leveled, solid footings in place and other requirements for the clinic installation can take a while in Africa,” said Berry. “We’re on track and making sure everything is place to assure the impending launch will go smoothly.”

Berry reports that C2C plans to do a “soft” opening of the clinic in late April, followed by a more formal “grand opening” that will include visits by local dignataries and members of  the Namibian national Ministry of Health and Social Services.

Watch the Nurture blog for more information on the clinic’s progress and the grand opening in the next few months.

Vijay Kumar

I enjoyed the opportunity to serve as the facilitator of Nurture’s TEDMED 2012 simulcast last week in Chicago. Between the inspiring presentations and interesting conversations that afternoon, it occurred to me that there are a number of strong similarities – I would call them “overlaps and opportunities” between TEDMED and Steelcase’s 100^th Anniversary project .

The first — both are built on the concepts of “convergence and connecting”. TEDMED does that well and that is what the “100 Years” is all about – selecting people from different fields (designers, scientists, artists) and making connections between their viewpoints about the next 100 years. There is lots of overlap in that formula – quite similar to what TEDMED is trying to do.

The second overlap is in the area of “dreams”. Steelcase offers dreams of “100 Years” from “100 Minds” – TEDMED presentations are the visions, dreams, of what may be possible and what can be done in the areas of health and medicine. TEDMED is all about sharing ideas for the future – very similar and great amount of overlap.

Finally, both are “curated” experiences. The Steelcase 100^th Anniversary project is collecting dreams of different people / children and curating them as an experience via a number of mediums to share with each of us. TEDMED is also a curated experience – working to link together the visions of many people doing interesting work and having interesting ideas and then capturing them and presenting them in a way that we can all learn and grow from.

During Nurture’s Chicago simulcast I came away with a very strong sense of the real value of the continuum on which ideas are being shared by both TEDMED and the Steelcase 100th Aniversary project.

Some of them are very personal and emotional experiences (such as the mother’s story of her daughter’s ongoing battle with autism). On the other end of the continuum – amazing anatomical visualization database and computer software – is much more analytical and scientific. Exposure to the full continuum gave me a sense of connection beyond what any one of those components could provide. It gave me an appreciation of the interconnectedness of emotions, science, art, technology – and that is the real value.

It’s not just about science, not just about art, and not just about technology either – TEDMED and the Steelcase 100th Anniversary project help us clearly get a sense of the interconnectedness of the world and how important every component is to our whole life.

In his opening comments he immediately challenged the audience to consider where technology could take health and medicine.  He spoke to the opportunities that exist in a new era that is enabled by technology. 

Dr. Kraft is a very dynamic speaker, and had my undivided attention from the moment he took the stage.  His topics ranged from understanding one’s own biology to lessons that we could learn from aviation for healthcare; but by far the single item that impacted me the most was this notion of becoming the CEO of your own healthcare.  The idea that your healthcare experience doesn’t have to just “happen” to you.  Think about that.  You are empowered, you are in control and you get to customize your own healthcare experience and optimize your own care.  But how?

Simply put:  technology.  Today smart phones and tablets are being utilized as a mobile health tool for clinicians.  iPads have already been adopted by a convincing 30% of physicians.  It’s how they are communicating with each other, and it’s how they already are and will continue to communicate with patients.  And the only “tool” we (as patients) need to be able to actively engage is probably already in our pockets (or on our laps).   All we need to do is embrace the technology that is upon us.

We’ve all heard the phrase “there’s an app for that”, right?  If not; well, the answer is “yes, there is”.  There’s not only “an app for that” there’s a “healthcare app for that”.  Twenty thousand of them in fact.  Besides being blown away by that figure, I was intrigued by the opportunities for self-managing one’s own healthcare experience that these apps provided.

Most of us would probably agree with the statement that the “best way to treat medicine is to prevent it”. Well, what if the prescription you are given is for an app, not a drug?  For an app that monitors your blood glucose level in real time.  Or an app with the capability to provide an EKG of your heart that can be sent to your physician. Even an app that takes a photo of your skin or eyes that can be sent for diagnosis by your dermatologist or optometrist. 

How many of us make resolutions each New Year to lose weight or exercise more?  How many of us keep those?  Downloadable apps (like Fitbit) are now making activity tracking easy and fun. 

In last night’s lecture, Dr. Kraft mentioned the fact that we are entering an era that can be coined “the Facebook of medicine”.  Afterwards we asked him exactly what he meant by that.  He responded by stating, “New technology is creating participatory medicine, which allows patients to find others like them who they can share information and support with”.

By now my point is probably becoming painstakingly clear:  we need to be more connected for better health. 

Dr. Kraft also spoke about finding ways to apply design thinking.  For me this hit home in regards to finding new and purposeful ways to incorporate technology into our product solutions.  So imagine my delight when just moments after this topic was introduced, Dr. Kraft shared an image of Pocket as a great example of “applying design thinking”.  It’s almost as if he knew that Pocket with the arm designed for iPad is available for order on Monday…..

At the conclusion of the evening we had the opportunity to catch up with Dr. Kraft and ask him what his overall impressions were from the event.  He responded with, “Good things happen the more engaged health consumers are.  While new health and wellness technology can be intimidating, these innovations help consumers develop better health habits and benefit from feedback loops”.

Don’t be scared.  Embrace the “good” that is here.

Vijay Kumar, professor at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology and a participant in Steelcase’s “100 Minds” program in honor of the company’s 100^thAnniversary, served as our facilitator.

Professor Vijay Kumar leads the discussion at Nurture's TEDMED simulcast in Chicago.

Professor Kumar told a wide variety of attendees – people from A&D firms, healthcare, pharmacy, media and even an insurance industry executive charged with helping lead innovation initiatives at his organization — that the afternoon would be an “intersection of a variety of different experiences. Cross pollination from different fields — with connections made and then hopefully, bringing those connections together in a proactive way.”

And that’s exactly what it was.

As part of his particiaption in Steelcase’s “100 Minds” Professor Kumar and his students recently produced a video to express their ideas of what the world will look like in 100 years. It was an apropos and intriguing start to the day and I was pleasantly surprised (you might even say, “happy”) that his students believe that a “happiness index” will serve as the main measure of success in the future…

The group then had the opportunity to watch a series of TEDMED simulcast on a variety of topics. Everything from adapting micro computer technology to fit the human form, electronic dissection / visualization, a slam poetry session, a pair of unsettling, yet hopeful presentations on the ticking time bomb that is Alzheimer’s disease, an inspirational and emotional story told by a mother about her daughter’s ongoing battle with autism and even a presentation on what we can learn from the structural makeup of the mammalian penis. (Yes… seriously.)

During the presentations, the attendees jotted down thoughts, ideas, concepts and posted them on white board with open ended questions like  — “Who is your customer and how do you immerse yourself in their life?” and “What ideas can you apply to your work tomorrow?”

During the discussions that ensued, professor Kumar offered the group four “word couplets:”

• Convergence and Connecting – TEDMED does that well
• Empathy and Experience – knowing your customer and how do you immerse yourself in their life. A key for any innovator – create the experience for them.
• Insights to Innovations – learning how to extract insights into actionable items
• Trends and Challenges –pay attention to trends – technology, political, social  – these can play an equally big role in how you address any issue

He “clustered” (grouped different insights / concepts together) many of the thoughts and comments on the boards and then helped get the group started down the path of a mini-design innovation discussion using a critical thinking model.

"Clusters" of ideas and concepts

Here are the clusters from the “What ideas can you apply to your work tomorrow?” board:

• “Experience System” cluster – design the experience
• “Change and Storytelling” cluster – design must accommodate change, imagine & appreciate what if…
• “Adaptability cluster” – change form factor, fabric rigid when needed, moveable,
• “Application of Technology” cluster – Nano technology, micro-robots
• “Specific Concepts” cluster – micro sensors on skin
• “Applying The Unfamiliar” cluster – how can I make this actionable?

The discussions were engaging, enjoyable and having a variety of viewpoints shared – totally unpredictable. Just like TEDMED — only a small taste of what’s going on in Washington D.C. right now.

Professor Kumar also told the group that he’s finalizing work on his new book, “101 Design Methods –  A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization” that will be published in October by John Wiley & Sons.

“It’s my first book and I really enjoyed doing it,” said Professor Kumar. “There is a lack of books in the area of design methods – I believe that the last real book focused on this was published back in 1974. There seems to be a demand for this information and I’m optimistic that it will do well…”

Based on our interactions yesterday in Chicago – I’d say he’s right.

The Social Tent is really revving up and sometimes rivaling the auditorium for delegate attendance! David Webster from IDEO and I took a walk around to other sponsor spaces and briefly experienced a mini-presentation on dementia from the Cleveland Clinic – a conference within a conference! Later in the day I took a walk with Tom Condon (our tour de force designer who developed the tent and simulcast lounge experiences) and we received a demonstration from Michael Weinberger at Johnson and Johnson of a new app for helping people score their own health using a simple, visual interface.

Mike showing Tom the ScoreMyHealth app in the Johnson and Johnson space.

Then, Jan Carlson of Nurture and I chatted with Sean Hughes from Philips regarding the design of healthcare experiences through environment.

Sean Hughes of Philips talking with Jan Carlson.

But the highlight of the day was the story we were privileged to hear from Virginia Breen and her daughter Elizabeth. There was nary a dry eye in the house as Virginia shared her story of working to help people understand that her daughter’s medical diagnosis of autism was keeping Elizabeth from not only being understood by others but perhaps from getting the help she needed to make meaningful connections with others. As we read the words Elizabeth has written in her poetry, we certainly made a connection and we thank both her and Virginia for coming to the TEDMED stage.

Another great day in the books – can’t wait to see what will happen tomorrow!

A shot from our Chicago simulcast features Robert Gupta and Nurture's very own Pocket up on stage.

A delicious (and healthy!) breakfast from the start of Day 2 at TEDMED.

A great quote from Bryan Stevenson, a speaker from Day 1 of TEDMED, written on the chalk table in Nurture's social space in DC.

Post-it notes featuring reaction to Day 2 of TEDMED go meta at Nurture's Chicago simulcast.

Dean Witting of Nurture and Roz Cama look on as Tom Condon tries out Empath while wearing the 3rd age suit.

A slideshow from Day 2 of TEDMED, featuring photos from DC and Nurture’s simulcasts in Grand Rapids and Chicago. 

Jay Walker and Lisa Shufro kick off TEDMED.

But much of the action happens away from the stage. In fact, one of the TEDMED organizers mentioned significant life experiences that had occurred to him on “trolley” rides. Ironically, just moments before that comment, I was running to catch the shuttle for the first session, and I met Daniel Yagoda, Health Engineer from Massachusetts General Hospital. We had a great discussion (the length of one shuttle ride) about the work he was doing with critical care units all across the MGH system and the series of improvements they were piloting in terms of process change. Naturally the conversation turned toward environment design and I told Daniel about some of the original design research I had done with Nurture at MGH in Boston. As Daniel said, “Wow, I haven’t even gotten to the Kennedy Center yet and this conference is already paying off!” I couldn’t have agreed more. 

Looking forward to a week filled with more chance encounters and the opportunity to create connections that last far beyond the sessions here in Washington DC!