I come from a computer science background.
Thus, I have grown accustomed to immediately think of a technical solution when I am presented with a problem:
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- For obtaining driving directions, I think of Google maps.
- For spreading awareness of a cause or an event, I think of social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
- For improving the organization and workflows of hospitals, I think of electronic health records.
- For banking, I think of Chase’s online platform.
- For improving education, I think of Khan Academy.
In the last month and a half, however, my tendency to naturally think of technology has been disadvantageous.
When our team was confronted with the initial problem of increasing clinical trial enrollment, we gravitated towards technical solutions. Some of out initial solutions were an online game, a Yelp/eHarmony-like website, and an online clinical trials matching system with human navigators. When I was thinking of these ideas, I was operating under the assumption that clinical trial enrollment is low because the solutions we thought of don’t exist. This was partially because our project was in its preliminary stages, but it was mostly due to my orientation towards technology.
After performing more research, we found discovered that there is a wealth of technologies and platforms that exist online. Websites like Emerging Med and The American Cancer Society’s Clinical Trials Matching Service are just a few examples of the many existing implementations of the ideas that we came up with.
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I was in shock. Some implementations of our ideas had already been around for over a decade. If our solutions had already been implemented, then why is the clinical trial enrollment rate still so low? My scope of thinking began to expand. As it expanded, I began to see the importance of a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. Although it is useful that I have the knowledge and skills to create a website or make an app, it is not the most important thing; technology is only a small piece in the puzzle that is improving clinical trial enrollment.
After this realization, our team has been approaching the problem from a greater diversity of perspectives. Lately our team has been viewing the problem from a marketing and public health standpoint. Rather than focusing on providing help online, it may be valuable to focus on connecting people to existing online resources. By expanding our focus, we hope to come up with an effective solution.