The medical literature shows that social determinants of health have a significant impact upon health outcomes. However, health professionals often lack the skills to address these determinants at the systems-level. Therefore, we developed a Design Thinking workshop to teach about health-related social needs and to practice designing person-centered solutions. We piloted the workshop with 53 medical and physician assistant students; 69.8% responded to the post-workshop questionnaire. Nearly 80% of students agreed the workshop helped them understand the effect of context on clinical outcomes and demonstrated how to design patient-centered solutions. However, only 50% of respondents anticipated using the Design Thinking methods in their future practice. We need to identify more effective ways to demonstrate the practical application of Design Thinking to clinical work settings.
Student Academy: A Pilot Design Thinking Workshop to Teach Community Medicine
