---
title: "Daodad"
description: "Daodad (UCB, 2019/20): GPs book urgent specialist slots and peer advice through one secure platform"
url: "https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/daodad-2019-20/"
lang: "en"
---

# Daodad

**GPs book urgent specialist slots and peer advice through one secure platform**

_Improving patient journey by connecting doctors_

- **Corporate partner:** [UCB](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/partners/ucb/) (https://www.ucb.com/)
- **Cohort:** [2019/20](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/cohort/2019-20/)
- **Theme:** [Health & care](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/themes/health-care/)
- **Type:** Platform
- **Key fact:** 6 months Average wait for a rheumatologist
- **Universities:** [d.school Paris · École des Ponts](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/dschool-paris/), [Politecnico di Milano](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/polimi/)
- **Team:** 7 master students
- **Disciplines:** Strategic Design, Product and Industrial Design, Communication Design, Industrial Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, Business

## Challenge

Rheumatic diseases affect 2–3 % of people, yet patients wait about six months to see a rheumatologist and get a diagnosis. UCB asked how to shorten this delay for patients.

## What the team learned

Private doctors have no direct line to hospital specialists. General practitioners therefore cannot refer urgent patients quickly, and those patients join waiting lists of up to six months.

## What they built

Daodad is a platform that connects doctors. GPs filter specialists by specialty and pathology, check availability calendars and request an urgent slot, a consultation or peer advice by email or phone. Encrypted communication keeps exchanges confidential. The team designed it with and for doctors.

## Results

- Projected: waiting time for a specialist falls from almost six months to under a week.

## Impact

The team found that the platform works for all doctors and pathologies, so its potential reaches well beyond the original rheumatology brief.

## Full project text

A digital platform that improves the diagnosis process for patients by bridging the communication gap between General Practitioners and Specialists.

### Challenge

How may we optimize the patient journey for patients in rheumatology sections in order to reduce the diagnostic delay? Rheumatic pathologies affect 2-3% percent of the population, but patients have to wait on average 6 months for a rheumatologist consultation and to be diagnosed. This delay could have consequences and is linked to the lack of specialists and the fact that patients are not directed to the right professional when their first symptoms appear.

### Solution

One of the biggest problems we witnessed during our research was the lack of means of communication for private doctors to specialists in hospitals. This led to an inability of general practitioners to address urgent patients to specialists, whose waiting list can be up to 6 months. Our solution, Daodad, is a digital platform aimed to better connect doctors. It allows them to search for specialists using advanced criteria and directly ask for an urgent timeslot or peer-to-peer consultation. This platform was specifically designed with and for doctors, all this with a real focus on data privacy.

### Impact

From almost 6 months of waiting for a specialist consultation to less than a week, Daodad allows drastically fastened medical care of patients with rheumatic inflammation.  
As these pathologies are known to be degeneratives, so starting the treatment much earlier in their patient journey will have a highly positive impact in the process of controlling the disease.  
Also, it turns out that this platform works for all doctors, and thus, all pathologies, allowing us to see potential for positive impact much beyond the scope of our initial briefing.

## Who built it.

- Valeria Baggia, Industrial Engineering (d.school Paris · École des Ponts)
- Eric Behar, Engineering Artificial Intelligence and Big Data (d.school Paris · École des Ponts)
- Yeira Ramirez, Strategic Design (d.school Paris · École des Ponts)
- Younes Benyamina, Business (d.school Paris · École des Ponts)
- Margherita Stanga, Product Design (Politecnico di Milano)
- Luiza Medeiros, Communication Design (Politecnico di Milano)
- Ivan Peñarada, Industrial Design (Politecnico di Milano)

## Sources

Summarised by the SUGAR editorial team from the team’s project page and SUGAR Expo booklet.

Figures marked “Projected” are the team’s own estimates, not measured results.

Open the 2019/20 booklet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRinlCvEZz5PSpew8VDcZzSIFRCUEvxc/view?usp=sharing