Design Thinking for Healthcare

This five-week course is fully online so that you are able to study at a pace that suits your lifestyle. The course consists of four weeks of content and teaching. The fifth week is reserved for assessment.

Learning content is delivered through pre-recorded videos and engaging online activities. At the end of each week there will 90-minute live webinars. All webinars are recorded for those who cannot attend live and will be available to view at your convenience.

We understand that some people may be new to online learning. Our virtual learning environment (VLE) is designed to be intuitive, accessible and easy to navigate. A dedicated course coordinator will be available to you, should you experience any technical difficulties, or have any specific questions relating to learning online. At the start of each course, there will be some short videos to orientate you to the platform and course format.

A four-week online learning experience awaits you. Each week is carefully designed to offer a dynamic blend of both direct and indirect synchronous and interactive activities. These include live lectures, exercises, discussions, reading assignments, self-study sessions, formative learning assessments, and summative preparation tasks. This approach fosters an immersive and student-centred learning environment, facilitating the attainment of your learning objectives. Week 5 will be dedicated to the assessment phase, where you'll receive detailed feedback.

• Week 1: In the introductory week, we will delve into the fundamentals of design thinking, uncovering its meaning and core elements, such as problem understanding, empathy, ideation, prototyping, testing, and implementation.
• Week 2: Participants will focus on the theoretical aspects, emphasising the role of design thinking in crafting creative solutions for healthcare challenges and the myriad benefits it brings to the healthcare and science domains.
• Week 3: As we move into week three, a deeper dive awaits, highlighting the importance of a patient-centred approach, infusing empathy and compassion into the design process.
• Week 4: Finally, in week four, we will critically assess design thinking and innovation within team dynamics, emphasising effective collaboration as a crucial component of applying design thinking in healthcare and related sectors
• Week 5: Lastly, in the fifth week, the course will conclude with an assessment and an ongoing feedback process aimed at evaluating the holistic learning outcomes achieved throughout the programme.

• Develop capacity to understand key concepts in design thinking as applied to or enacted in health and related sectors.
• Develop critical understand of how design thinking and problem-based working/theory can be employed to alter working lives and human health.
• Understand and apply design thinking appropriately to the issues or challenges that arise in planning, delivering or changing health and related sectors.
• Develop competence in evaluating concepts pertaining to designing thinking and problem based learning view to assessing and identifying what works (and what does not) in particular scenarios and why.
• Demonstrate the ability to challenge assumptions and question processes in the development of effective policies, procedures, strategy or action in a contextually sensitive manner through design thinking.
• Enact critical understanding and skills necessary to perform as an effective organizational actor through design thinking the confidence and ability to work with and lead others in pursuit of better health and well-being.
• Develop critical reflection and reflexivity so as to understand how their specific approach to design thinking and problem based working impacts on the people, processes or structures.
• Reflect on how to change practice as an actor/manager/leader in organizational contexts in support of the betterment of human health and well-being, and in support of principles linked to relevant components of the UN Sustainable Development Goals through design thinking.

Assessment methods on our micro-credential courses can include written assignments, continuous assessment, and/or presentations.

Full details on the end of course assessment will be available to students on commencement of the course.

Students who successfully complete this course and pass all assessments, will receive an academic transcript and certificate detailing the academic award and credits received.

This is a postgraduate programme and those who complete this course will gain five European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) at level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications (equivalent to level 7 on the European Framework of Qualifications). 

We are proud to be a recognised University of the National University of Ireland (NUI).

Recognition by Ministries and bodies in other jurisdictions must be determined by the individual applicants.

Course title is subject to final accreditation.

Please note: This course was previously known as Design Thinking for Entrepreneurs in Healthcare and Science.

Micro-credentials are awarded based on successfully completing a course and demonstrating the required learning outcomes through assessment. Micro-credentials are designed to be stackable – learners can accumulate credits from other specific micro-credentials to achieve a larger, major award, such as a diploma or degree.

We have two other micro-credential courses in this suite:

• Innovation in Healthcare
• Business Planning for Healthcare Innovation

You can find more RCSI Online micro-credential courses here.

Contact us to find out more.