Design in Clinical Settings

Design in Clinical Settings is a rapidly evolving field that bridges design thinking, technology and healthcare practice. This course provides students with the opportunity to explore how design methodologies can be applied to complex clinical environments, where human experience, safety and system efficiency are critical. Through a combination of theoretical grounding and hands-on collaboration with clinicians, patients and technologists, students will learn to develop innovative, user-centred solutions that respond to real-world healthcare challenges.

The course emphasises interdisciplinary teamwork, design thinking, participatory design and rapid prototyping, enabling students to engage deeply with the ethical, emotional and practical dimensions of clinical care. Students will critically assess the impact of design interventions on the perspective of user experience and clinical outcomes and learn to navigate the regulatory contexts that shape healthcare innovation.

This course prepares students to take an active role in shaping the future of healthcare through thoughtful, responsible and experience-driven design.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student will attain knowledge within:

• principles and practices of design when applied to clinical settings
• design methods to improve user experience in clinical settings
• evaluating health technologies and related design from the perspectives of wellbeing, health, sustainability and their impact on human actions and interactions

Skills

The student can:

• independently contribute to multidisciplinary design projects that integrate technology and user experience in clinical and healthcare environments
• link various fields of health technologies and design to promote innovation in healthcare and clinical settings
• design and prototype product features and service components that prioritise human-technology relations and user experience
• validate design of healthcare services, including product features, service components and the broader implications of design interventions on user experience and wellbeing

General Competence

The student can:

• understand the unique challenges and opportunities of designing in clinical environments
• apply human-centred design principles combined with rapid prototyping in healthcare/clinical contexts
• collaborate effectively with clinical professionals, patients and other stakeholders in clinical settings
• evaluate impact of design interventions on patient care
• navigate ethical, regulatory and cultural considerations in clinical design.

• design thinking and experience-driven design in healthcare

• rapid prototyping and iterative development combined with design in clinical contexts

• ethical and regulatory frameworks in clinical design

• validation methods for user experience and clinical impact

• case studies of successful design interventions in healthcare

• human-technology interaction in clinical environments and health ecosystems

• cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of patient experience

• sustainability and wellbeing in health technology design

• interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement

• lectures with concrete examples of design in clinical settings
• workshops where the theoretical teaching from lectures can be better understood through real life experiences and scenarios
• group work where students will work with clinicians, patients and technology experts looking at real life problems, doing rapid prototyping and co-design workshops ending with low or medium Fidelity solution prototype

Project Description, maximum 1000 words.

The course will be assessed through an oral group exam, where the results of the group work is presented. This includes the visualisations and prototypes of their design. Each student needs to explain their own individual contribution to the group work. Oral exam includes 15 min presentation + 15 min questions from sensors

Group size: Max 3 students

The exam result cannot be appealed

All resources are permitted as long as the rules for source referencing are followed. The student is required to indicate if and how AI has been used to answer the exam.

Scale A-F.

Two internal. External examiner is used periodically.