CGM in Hospital

Timeline: Fall ‘20 Design Sprint 

Type: Industry Challenge ‍

Team Roadmap:  ‍Callie Cheung, Chloe Easterbrook, Jenny Li, Zhilin Li

Mentors: Karen Yeung (Dexcom), Janna Kimmel (Dexcom), Sonya Sokolash (Dexcom), Patrick McBride (Dexcom), Gabriel Negrea (Dexcom), Lars Mueller, and Heidi Rataj‍

Overview‍

Due to the COVID pandemic, the FDA announced an enforcement digression for CGM use in hospitals to simplify diabetes management and minimize the time in the patient rooms. Dexcom asked a student team to analyze how hospitals are integrating the Dexcom consumer technology into their workflow and how Dexcom can support them. The student team conducted user research and summarized challenges and opportunities for Dexcom.

The students started by reading about the main challenges and the complexity of the hospital workflows. Based on this understanding they interviewed providers from two hospitals in multiple stages, and scheduled observations to see the actual work in the UCSD hospital. Observations in the ICU were organized in collaboration with the endocrinology department.  They summarized their insights by creating an empathy map for each role in the hospital and a process map that outlines the opportunities and challenges of CGMs.

The team worked every week with the Dexcom new markets team to discuss new insights and follow up on technological questions arising during their fieldwork. Each week, they presented new insights and dove deeper into the workflow. In parallel, they helped clarify issues of nurses and the diabetes nurse educators.

After 10 weeks, they presented their results to over 30 interested Dexcom stakeholders. They clearly outlined challenges and opportunities and gave Dexcom insight into the hospital workflow.

“Super impressed with the presentation from the hospital team.  So well organized and prepared. You have generated a goldmine of insights for us to comb through.  Great job!”

Mike Gray Senior Director - New Markets at Dexcom

A subsequent presentation to the hospital stakeholders also led to more wide-spread praise. Now that CGM has arrived in the hospital, providers are working hard to adapt their protocols to get the most benefit out of this new technology at a challenging moment in time.