Design Thinking: User-Centered Innovation for Public Health Professionals

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for social challenges. In the context of public health, this proven approach equips public health professionals with essential skills to tackle rather complex, entrenched challenges more effectively.

Design Thinking has shown significant benefits in public health, enhancing satisfaction among patients, providers, and communities, and fostering more collaborative, efficient intervention development. Compared to traditional problem-solving methods, Design Thinking offers deeper empathy for community needs, a clearer understanding of problems, their historical context, and more cost-effective solutions with higher user satisfaction.

Participants will learn to empathize with target groups, prototype quickly, and generate creative ideas to transform the way they develop products, services, processes, and strategies. The course includes a brief, didactic introduction to Design Thinking, followed by real-world case studies demonstrating its utility in public health, including some expert input online talks. Participants will apply each of the five stages of Design Thinking to a use case, gaining hands-on experience in creating innovative, user-centered solutions.

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By the end of the course participants will:

• Know the principles and the process of the Design Thinking method for solving complex problems that focus on people’s needs;
• Value the human-centered approach of Design Thinking to face complex Public Health issues;
• Have applied the method to use cases;
• Be able to use Design Thinking tools in their work.

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None.

• Interactive exercises;
• Peer group interactions;
• Workshops;
• Input(guest)lectures;

To get the Certificate of completion and the 1 ECTS participants MUST:

• Attend at least 80%of the course;
• Attend the plenary offered during the first day of the course;
• Actively participate in class;
• Participate in group work and presentations.

At least one facilitator will be on-site in Lugano, and some may join online. Participants are welcomed to join either on-site in Lugano, or online. In case of a change of regional policies (e.g., Covid) or personal reasons, the course could change to online. For those on-site, the course will take place at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).

For course pricing information, see here. Discounts are available for participants from LMICs, PhD and Master Students, and Students and Employees from the LSS Partner Universities (SSPH+, USI, SUPSI, and SWISS TPH).  

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