Hacker News Reader

Comment by KingOfCoders | Hacker News Reader

Don't. Watch them do their work, or let them describe their work.

From my coaching practice, people are not very good identifying there real pain point. My back hurts, but my back isn't broken, I just sit too much.

View on HN

How's he going to watch doctors do their work? Have you ever seen vendors sit in on your appointments?

Personally not in appointments, but I have seen vendors observe doctors in hospitals. But you can always role play for example.

A pain point I noticed recently just visiting a hospital as a patient was not being able to find stuff! ECG pad thingies in this case. But they handled it so jovailly maybe it was a positive lol for a dreary night shift.

It's something I used to do internally at my previous employer, and I know it's very useful. In this case I would have to convince a doc to let me follow them around and that's an immense ask. It's also going to miss systemic, intangible issues that are not task related. It's a great thing to do for an already-established product.

You must have a doctor somewhere in your network 1 degree of separation away. Get a friend to ask for a favor to invite the doctor to a meal at a nice place, your treat. Be up front about your intent. At the right time, pitch to the doctor the idea of interacting on the job with doctor and/or staff. And don't promise the doctor any equity. Maybe free access to the product.

Doctors have to be very careful with this type of request. If they allow an unrelated third-party to view protected health information, even inadvertently, then they could be punished for a HIPAA violation. Most well-managed healthcare provider organizations would outright prohibit this unless there is a business associate agreement in place.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com