The individual groups in society, including those with low education levels, financial ability, self-care ability, minorities, language communication barriers, and so on, do not have enough medical resources due to various factors. They even lack channels to seek help. On the other hand, due to the population growth, the working load on the public medical system is increasing. In addition, the diversity of diseases causes complexity in medical management. Also, the shortage of medical staff has led to a sharp increase in the workload of front-line medical professionals. Limited consultation time and resources that each medical team can allocate to patients are seriously insufficient, significantly affecting the quality of diagnosis.

This project aims to provide a bridge between medical care and patients and compensate for the uneven distribution of medical resources. This project will develop a mobile phone application that will have two significant features: 1) For medical volunteers - provide a list of commonly used consultation terms in Hong Kong, including terms for common diseases, important questions for consultation, etc. The glossary will be expressed in trilingual (English, Cantonese, and Mandarin) to help volunteers (especially medical and nursing students) become more familiar with relevant standard terms and support their professional development. 2) Patients - The app provides a pre-consultation platform for both parties. Patients can book volunteers for pre-consultation and translation through the app according to their particular needs, such as minority languages, cultural requirements, etc. After completing the pre-consultation, the patient can download the medical record report in the app and show the report to the doctor during the consultation, saving extra time and misunderstandings caused by language barriers. Throughout the plan, the privacy of patients will be strictly protected. Patients can choose to conduct pre-consultation by phone or video calls, and their medical records and personal information will never be used or disclosed without the patient's consent

This project uses design thinking to take the user's needs as the starting point of the design. The difficulties faced by disadvantaged groups in the public medical system and the challenges faced by medical staff are the core issues of the entire plan. The program uses telecommunications technology, the Internet, volunteer training, and services to help solve problems and is a "pioneer" in medical training. In addition, the translation service provided by the project allows patients to organize and express their conditions in the language and culture that they are familiar with, rather than being limited to choosing a "shared" medical glossary with medical staff—a closer" expression. This service ensures that patients can find assistance with absolute privacy protection, volunteers can get additional training and practice opportunities, and both parties can build a relationship of mutual trust.

Vulnerable individuals

Community individuals

Health Professionals

Volunteers / Trainees

2022

Healthcare, Well-being