DAMU – Medicas GmbH · SUGAR project 2021/22

The project · from brief to prototype

What happened, step by step.

01

Challenge

General practitioners are retiring faster than new ones arrive, and rural seniors feel unsafe. Medicas asked how to cover rural areas through a mix of local and digital medical services.

02

What the team learned

Rural seniors find remote consultation, the only option they are offered, neither attractive nor trustworthy. Getting an appointment in rural areas is nearly impossible.

03

What they built

DAMU runs nearby rural practices with same-day digital consultations. Medical assistants check patients in, take measurements and handle the technical set-up. A life-size screen and desk tools (stethoscope, camera, pulse tablet, help button) let the doctor examine.

04

Impact

Medicas can care for more rural patients, while its doctors work flexibly from different locations instead of moving to the countryside.

Full project text

The team’s original texts from the project page.

To improve the healthcare system in rural areas we want to create new practices for teleconsultations. The practice is equipped with specific tools and has medical staff to create a trustworthy environment, especially for the elderly. The General practitioner is not physically present on-site, but interacts with the patient through the solution.

Challenge

The number of General Practitioners (GP) is decreasing year after year. The number of GPs retiring is way above the number of newcomers. In addition to that, new GPs want a balanced work-life.

Seniors, especially those living in rural areas, feel like they are in danger. They don't have a nearby trustable medical system. Today, the only solution offered to them is remote consultation. But this new technology isn’t attractive or trustworthy for them.

That is why we worked on the challenge: “How might we better cover rural areas with medical services through a combination of local and digital offerings?”

Solution

At DAMU practices, patients get the chance to take digital consultations in a trustworthy environment - the teleconsultation room. There is a medical staff that has the same tasks as in usual practices, like greeting, scanning the insurance card, or taking measurements. Additionally, the medical assistant can join the appointment whenever needed to help the patient e.g. to take off clothes.

Other staff are responsible for the technical setup and the connection to the doctor, so the patients don't have to handle that.

In the teleconsultation room, itself are four different tools to enable examinations.

Impact

Interpersonal interactions - this is the crucial point in the DAMU practices. Everything about a doctor's visit there is designed to create a trustful, real and human relationship between patients, doctors, and the technology that connects them. This innovative design pairs digital consultations with physical examinations.

This is a possibility for Medicas to take care of more patients, especially those living in rural areas. Their employed doctors do not have to move to rural areas and can work flexibly from different locations for the same patients. This makes the job more attractive than before.

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