Students apply in November for a spot in the course, and are told whether they are admitted at the end of the month. They form teams and apply as a team for projects in early December, and teams are matched immediately. Students are required to contact their hosts by mid-December and have interactions with them even before class starts in February. To learn more about the details of the application and matching process, refer to Dr. Sastry’s insights regarding Pre-course Activities.
Below are links to the work produced by the student teams for their respective projects. Materials presented here include pre-trip, on-site, and wrap-up deliverables, as well as supporting resources.
For a full list of the projects and brief descriptions offered in Spring 2013, refer to the project overviews (PDF). Additional project examples and resources, as well as information about this course, can be found on the website for Groundwork Initiative for Global Health Delivery.
Imperial Health Sciences, Unjani Clinic
Project resources and deliverables for Unjani Clinic are available courtesy of Korn Chinsawananon, Kari Hodges, Sora Bae Kim, and Nicholas Sze, and are used with permission. A brief description of the project is provided below, and is excerpted from the project team’s executive summary.
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
Project Summary
Expansion plan for a clinic-in-a-box franchise initiative
The Opportunity
Unjani Clinic, a CSI project of Imperial Health Sciences, is a nurse-run, for-profit healthcare clinic-in-a-box franchise initiative. Unjani is addressing the healthcare delivery gap between the private (at R300 a visit) and public clinics (free of charge) in South Africa. The franchise model provides both the opportunity for the nurses to become entrepreneurs and the opportunity for the community to access quality, affordable healthcare. Currently, Unjani has seven clinics and aims to scale up to 2,500 clinics across the country. In order to scale up successfully, Unjani has to tackle two challenges: how to increase patient volume; and what is the appropriate pricing strategy going forward.
L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI)
Project resources and deliverables for LVPEI are available courtesy of Ali S. Kamil, Dmitriy E. Lyan, Nicole Yap, and MIT Student, and are used with permission. A brief description of the project is provided below, and is excerpted from the project team’s executive summary.
Location
Hyderabad, India
Project Summary
Identification of bottlenecks along patient pathway to improve patient wait time
The Opportunity
LVPEI is an eye care hospital that has served over 15 million people, with 50% of its patients at no cost. Its mission is to provide equitable and efficient eye care to all sections of society. The hospital naturally faces large patient volumes and is concerned that its capacity constraint is creating long wait time for its patients. Opportunity exists in capturing dynamic changes in patient demand and patient pathway.
