Design Thinking in Action: Medical Students Weigh-In on the Mobile Health Clinic

From the December 23, 2022 issue of the Transformational Times

Perspective/Opinion 

Design Thinking in Action: Medical Students Weigh-In on the Mobile Health Clinic 

 

By Emmy Lambert, BS – Medical Student 

Patient-centered care calls for patient-centered spaces. Medical students were given the opportunity to dust off their creative brains and ponder the details, big and small, of an exciting new mobile clinic…  

Human-Centered Design. It’s all around us. Or at least, it should be… 

Simply put, human-centered design is a method of empathy-based problem-solving. Through a three-phase design process of inspiration, ideation, and implementation, human-centered design tailors products towards those involved in their use – so-called “stakeholders.” These stakeholders are consulted and considered in every step of the design process to ensure the output will meet their needs. Truly an ingenious approach, if you ask me.   

They’re building a WHAT? A mobile clinic! 

In an effort to address preventative health screening disparities in certain zip codes in Milwaukee, there is a joint venture between the Population Health Department and OB/GYN Clinic at Froedtert Hospital, the Kern Institute’s Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lab, and the UW-Milwaukee Lubar Entrepreneurship Center to design and implement a Women’s* Mobile Health Clinic. The working timeline aims to complete research by the end of the 2022 calendar year, build the clinic in late spring of 2023, and begin providing care next fall.   

As part of the ongoing research process, the HCD lab hosted a design workshop for second-year medical students in the Health Systems Management & Policy Pathway. As a student member of the HCD lab for nearly a year, I had the privilege of facilitating this session with Dr. Ilya Avdeev and Dr. Lana Minshew. As a team, we guided students through a series of activities to stimulate creativity and prime their listening skills before conducting design research for the clinic.   

We asked the HSMP students to brainstorm the needs of a women’s mobile health clinic, identify stakeholders, and generate solutions to a few stakeholder concerns. Students collaborated in teams, writing furiously on sticky notes, whiteboards, and scrap paper. The room was abuzz with solution-oriented energy. Their knowledge of health systems and roles as medical students added a unique perspective to the ongoing project. Some of Dr. Avdeev’s graduate-level engineering students attended the session as well, lending a different angle of design understanding to the process.    

The students said they loved it! 

The session was well received by the students. Clayton Vesperman, M2, commented, “I thought that the Mobile Clinic Design session was one of the most unique and engaging sessions I have had as part of the Health Systems Management and Policy pathway. The opportunity to collaborate with Engineering students who had a background that was outside of the medical field was a great opportunity to learn how other fields approach problems as well as the types of issues they prioritize. As medical students, we have abundant opportunities to learn from other health professions, but learning to work alongside entirely different fields can be very beneficial as they can play a large impact in the patient experience even without directly influencing the patients’ healthcare.”  

Victoria Le, an M2 also in the HSMP Pathway, commented, “I thought it was interesting to see the process of working through nitty-gritty details of making an idea come to life. I liked how thorough it was, including the way we tried to anticipate different issues that would be roadblocks to the mobile clinic. I also thought it was a good way to balance the creative process with a more rigorous evaluation of ideas.”  

My takeaway? 

I was so impressed with the creativity and collaboration demonstrated by my peers! Their willingness to engage across disciplines, work together to problem solve, and experience medicine from the patient perspective is promising for the future of medicine. A few of the ideas presented at this workshop have been considered for the ultimate implementation of the mobile health clinic, which is set to hit the streets in the fall of 2023.   

Design with us! 

The Human-Centered Design lab is currently collaborating with the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Froedtert hospital on a community-centered design project focused on designing two mobile health clinics to serve the greater Milwaukee area. To create the most effective community-centered design as possible, we invite community members to join the design team by sharing your experience with mobile healthcare or offering your ideas using a full-scale clinic design model. The model is in the first-floor cafeteria lobby of the MCW – Medical Education Building and will be open to everyone through January 31, 2023.   

Note: 

*The term “women” encompasses those who identify as female, possess female reproductive anatomy, or face female-related health issues. 

Emmy Lambert is currently an M2 at MCW Milwaukee. She is a student member of the Human-Centered Design Lab pillar of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education. She passionately co-runs the MCW Chapter of Medical Students for Choice, manages operations of MCW DOSE, and teaches Hatha and yin yoga classes at Collective Flow MKE.