Aligning healthcare innovation and software requirements through design thinking

In recent years, there has been significant growth in software companies across the healthcare sector developing new technologies to improve healthcare delivery and services. This has given rise to the emergence of Connected Health – a new model for healthcare management. This also places considerable emphasis on the process of software development in supporting Connected Health. In addition, it highlights the growing reliance and trust we place on software to support healthcare decisions. However, unlike many other sectors, such as business and education, failure to align healthcare needs with software requirements can have devastating consequences on people’s health and potentially cause death. Our research and experience with healthcare companies confirms the need to establish a Connected Health Innovation Framework using Design Thinking principles to a) support software developers in clearly identifying healthcare requirements and b) extend and enrich traditional software requirements gathering techniques. This paper presents an e-pharmacy case study and describes the impact this approach has within a Connected Health context.