By Healthcare Facilities Today

According to a Q&A with Gretchen Wustrack on the Wired website, healthcare is notorious for being technophobic, clunky and downright ugly. 

Wustrack leads the Active Health group at the design and innovation firm IDEO in San Francisco. according to the Wired article, she has spent 12 years trying to give the healthcare sector a much needed facelift through design. Her approach is part of a growing movement called human-centered design, which wants to redefine how people experience healthcare by focusing on their specific needs.

“There’s opportunity for design in healthcare in every nook and cranny,” Wustrack said in the article.

Wustrack believes that healthcare is "kind of broken" and new thinking is needed. 

"That’s exactly where you bring design in – to think differently about a complex system and come up with fresh solutions. Our approach to design, which is human-centered, which is systemic, is exactly the right tool for deeply understanding the challenges, the people and finding new solutions," the article quoted her as saying.

According to Wustrack, the big challenge is that healthcare has multiple intersecting players.

"You’ve got regulatory agencies. You’ve got healthcare providers. You’ve got insurers. You’ve got patients…. It’s about creating a common vision." 

Read the article.