Students investigate urgent healthcare challenges facing vulnerable patients and use design thinking to create realistic, evidence-based solutions that improve safety, access, and health outcomes. Through research, interviews, data analysis, and feedback from healthcare professionals, patient advocates, community organizations, and college partners, they learn how patient needs, ethics, culture, cost, and feasibility shape healthcare decisions. The experience builds science and health knowledge alongside collaboration, communication, reflection, and problem-solving as students develop prototypes, advocacy tools, or intervention plans for a public Healthcare Innovation Expo. Over four weeks, students see themselves as informed researchers, compassionate advocates, and emerging healthcare leaders who can contribute meaningful ideas to their communities.

Students will analyze healthcare challenges affecting vulnerable populations and define clear criteria and constraints for solutions using research, case studies, interviews, and community data. They will apply design thinking, anatomy and physiology, healthcare ethics, cultural competence, and knowledge of social determinants of health to develop, test, and refine feasible solutions that improve safety, access, and patient outcomes. Students will strengthen collaboration, empathetic communication, survey and interview design, data analysis, and professional presentation skills through critique cycles with peers, healthcare professionals, and community partners. They will evaluate trade-offs such as cost, safety, reliability, accessibility, and social impact, reflect on their growth as advocates and innovators, and present evidence-based products at a public expo.

Students will create empathy interview notes, community health surveys, research summaries, data displays, and problem statements as they investigate a healthcare challenge affecting a vulnerable population. In teams, they will develop solution concepts such as a prototype, patient advocacy resource, health education campaign, accessibility improvement, telehealth or app mock-up, caregiver support tool, or community intervention plan, with revision logs showing how feedback shaped their work. They will also produce a written innovation proposal that explains the need, anatomy and physiology connections, evidence, cost-benefit considerations, safety, feasibility, and cultural responsiveness of their solution. The final products will be presented at a Healthcare Innovation Expo through a professional pitch, visual display, and prototype or demonstration for healthcare partners, families, and community members.

Open with a “Patient Journey Challenge” in which teams rotate through short case-study stations featuring vulnerable patients, such as an older adult at risk of falling, a child with asthma, or a non-English-speaking patient trying to follow discharge instructions. At each station, students analyze barriers to safety, access, and care, interact with sample data or artifacts, and record urgent needs, possible causes, and early solution ideas through a design-thinking protocol. Invite a nurse, therapist, social worker, or patient advocate from a local partner organization to debrief the cases, highlight real community challenges, and introduce expectations for ethical, human-centered innovation. End with a team reflection and a public launch question in which students identify which patient problem they most want to investigate and why it matters to their community.

Host a Healthcare Innovation Expo where teams present their research, prototypes, advocacy tools, and solution pitches to healthcare professionals, community partners, families, and school staff. Structure the event like a public showcase with presentation booths, short formal pitches, and feedback panels including nurses, therapists, social workers, patient advocates, college partners, and local clinic representatives. Include interactive elements such as prototype demonstrations, data displays, and student-created patient education materials so visitors can see how each solution addresses safety, access, equity, and feasibility. Celebrate learning with audience feedback cards, partner recognitions, reflection displays, and awards for innovation, empathy, research quality, and community impact.