March 2, 2004
Undergrads Use Technology to Improve Emergency Medical Care
By Amy Corenblith
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f you’ve ever called 911 for a medical emergency and had the feeling you were about to fall into enter a bureaucratic rabbit hole, you’re not alone. But McCombs School undergraduates came up with several plans to change the system using Smart Emergency Care, which they presented Feb. 21 at the second annual BizIT case competition.
The Management Information Systems BBA program presented the competition, along with the MIS Association and Tech Connects. Accenture, Austin Ventures and USAA were sponsors.
Pegasus Consulting claimed the top prize, with Three Guys, a Girl and a Business Plan and Longhorn Consulting coming in second and third. The winning team received $3,200 plus a free copy of Office 2003 Professional donated by Microsoft. The Pegasus team included McCombs School third-years Son Hong (Marketing), Rashim Oberoi (Accounting), Megan Light (Accounting) and Adam Cox (Finance).
Building on the learning from last year’s competition, the 2004 business case focused on integrating MIS, finance, accounting and marketing to give students the most realistic business experience possible.
“I wish I’d had that experience to cut my teeth on as a student,” said Brent Reid, a competition judge and associate at local consulting firm Alexandri. “I had to cut my teeth by turning in bad proposals.”
The case business problem described the technologically cumbersome process of emergency medical technicians attending to 911 calls. As the case states, “the availability of current patient information—from first contact to transition to an Emergency Room—is inadequate…Moreover, EMTs are producing inadequate, incomplete and illegible hand-written encounter records that add to the liability burden.”
Each team proposed ways to improve the efficiency and accuracy of emergency incident process, which would increase the quality of emergency care and lower healthcare costs.
The teams, composed of students from all McCombs School majors,
created ways to streamline patient care within the confines of a
practical budget. They devised technological, financial and
marketing plans, and some teams conducted research in the
community while coming up with their proposals.
“We actually had a software company and the City of Austin say,
‘Call us when you have your case because we want to talk to
you,’” said Megan Light, a third-year accounting student and
member of the winning team. “There is actually a market for this
and everyone was really willing to help us.”
The teams’ solutions impressed the judges, who said the quality
of the presentations was comparable to what they see in real
business situations. “Finalist teams had a more thorough
understanding of the case proposal, which set them apart from
their peers,” said Terry Earls, a group program manager for
Microsoft. “It was nice to see undergrads propose viable,
implemental, feasible solutions comparable to what they might
find in consulting.”
Some judges also noted that the time constraints of the case made the presentations even more impressive. “In the real world, they have four months to put together something like this,” said Brit Zindel, a senior consultant at Accenture and McCombs BBA alumna. “These teams had a week and a half.”
For more information on the BizIT Case Competition, see
http://misbridge.mccombs.utexas.edu/events/bizit/default.asp
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
