Led a team of 13 SCAD students to deliver a collaborative project between SCADpro and 3M. The team researched, designed, defined, and developed AR/MR recommendations to reduce physician burnout under the areas of Diagnostic, Treatment, Recovery and Service.
Problem
Physician burnout is a highly ubiquitous problem in the healthcare space, with over 50% of physicians in the United States reporting symptoms related to burnout.
The core causes of Burnout :
Time-consuming data entry and documentation
Poor EHR interoperability
Cognitive overload and frequent task switching
Miscommunication among healthcare teams
Decline in patient-physician interaction quality
3M sought a human-centered, tech-forward approach using AR/VR to explore how emerging technologies could reduce burnout, improve workflows, and enhance patient care over the next 5 years.
Outcome
The project resulted in a set of validated conceptual prototypes and spatial computing explorations that demonstrated how mixed reality could address physician burnout and workflow inefficiencies.
Key deliverables:
A tool recognition and sterility tracking system using Azure Custom Vision
A 3D DICOM visualization tool to view and manipulate medical images in mixed reality.
A shared MR collaboration experience connecting HoloLens and iPad devices.
Spatial UI guidelines and visual frameworks designed around human ergonomics and cognitive comfort, like eye-gaze tracking, FOV comfort, and menu placement for HoloLens.
Established a visual design system blending 3M’s aesthetic with a human, medical tone.
Together, these deliverables provided 3M with a strategic foundation for future innovation in healthcare, demonstrating how spatial technology can reduce burnout, enhance safety, and restore human connection in medicine.
My Role
As Project Lead Strategist, I defined the vision and design framework, leading a 13-member team through a 10-week collaboration with 3M. I drove the research strategy, conducting SME interviews, diary studies, and ecosystem mapping and translated insights into actionable design opportunities.
I guided the team in choosing effective research and design methods to ensure meaningful results, reducing decision-making time and focusing on real-world challenges faced by medical professionals. I also led continuous alignment sessions with 3M stakeholders and facilitated concept ideation and prioritization, ensuring that every decision tied back to both user needs and organizational goals.
Throughout, I navigated complex stakeholder dynamics and translated findings into spatial AR/VR concepts addressing physician burnout and improving situational awareness.
Design and Research Approach
Understanding the Landscape
We began by exploring the healthcare and 3M technology ecosystem, identifying where mixed reality could make the most impact. Our research revealed that the biggest challenges weren’t just interface issues; they also included deeply fragmented workflows, poor data sharing, and cognitive fatigue in clinical settings.
Learning from Physicians and SME
Through interviews with healthcare professionals, policy experts, and diary studies with physicians, we captured real-world pain points related to communication gaps and mental overload.
These insights shaped three guiding principles:
- Empathy: Design for people, not processes
-Connection: Enable seamless collaboration
-Intelligence: Use AI and IoMT to enhance decisions
Turning Research into Ideas
I led ideation workshops to translate findings into tangible opportunities.
We designed three early concepts:
-Smart Patient Admission Forms: Streamline intake and documentation
-MR Medics: Connect paramedics and hospitals in real time
-Spatial Computing in Healthcare: Immersive, data-driven collaboration
After collaborative reviews with 3M stakeholders, we prioritized Spatial Computing, balancing innovation, feasibility, and human impact.
Bringing Ideas to Life
We created spatial design guidelines emphasizing clarity and comfort in mixed-reality environments for our users. Journey maps for rounds, pre-op consults, and surgeries defined how data should appear in context.
Iterative testing on HoloLens helped us refine the field of view, gestures, and latency, resulting in an intuitive, distraction-free experience that supports better focus and team coordination.
Impact
Enabled physicians to process and act on information more intuitively through spatial visualization and real-time data context.
Provided a strategic foundation and validated framework for applying AR/MR tech in healthcare.
Improved workflow by simplifying coordination across teams, reducing task switching and decision fatigue in critical environments, allowing physicians to focus on patient care rather than data management.
Paved the way for future exploration in AI-assisted, spatially aware healthcare systems.
Established a human-centered approach to mixed reality in healthcare, benefiting both clinicians and patients.
Reflection
Leading through complexity: Coordinating a multidisciplinary team required quick, structured decisions and trust-based collaboration.
Balancing leadership and flexibility: I learned to shift between guiding and empowering to sustain creative momentum.
Designing for the unknown: Working with AR/VR in healthcare strengthened my ability to structure uncertainty into actionable clarity.
Communication as a catalyst: Constant alignment across teams and stakeholders proved essential to progress.
Growth as a strategist: Reinforced my approach to tackling wicked problems with empathy, clarity, and strategic intent.