By Ryo Yamaguchi, MED 2015 Participant
The Design Thinking & Medicine workshop with Dr. Chacko introduced us to the methods of design thinking. The sections of the workshop was divided into categories, such as creativity, brainstorming, need statements, mind mapping, and prototypes. The creativity part was explained by a big map. We enjoyed brainstorming by competing on coming up with what you can do with tomatoes even if it may seem unreal or crazy. I can say we all learned astonishing things we have even never thought of. Personally, I liked mind mapping because it’s a good way to express things in my mind and get to understand how I think.
I see all participants amazed and influenced by this design thinking session. However, I want to share a controversial opinion. For innovation purposes, this gets to be the breakthrough for success. The goal of design thinking is to come up with creative solutions to a complicated problem, so it’s ok to make lots of mistakes in the process. This is why people would make lots of prototypes. However, in the medical field, it is not ideal to make mistakes because that could potentially lead to death. Brainstorming is a method to come up with crazy, yet incredible ideas, and it might lead to success, despite what your critics think. As a doctor, you would want to treat diseases for patients by coming up with innovative ideas, but sometimes old-fashioned methods may be a safer approach. Each patient has their own opinion about treatment. In my opinion, design thinking is difficult to be used in clinical occasions because you have to consider your patients’ feelings every time. Doctors should always consider patients’ right, medical ethics, patients’ feelings, etc.
I believe there is a gap between doctors and engineers. Doctors deal with patients who have their own personalities, which mean there may be multiple treatments. No matter the situation, patients come first. I think it’s better to have a mix of mindsets: one is a doctor and the other is a design thinker. It is up to you what ratio you prefer. Personally, my ideal ratio is 70% doctor and 30% design thinker. We should remember treatments are not only for patients’ physical problem but for their mental health as well. We should keep that in mind as a medical student, and even after we become a doctor. Though it seems I had an opposing opinion about this, I must say I was very honored to have his class. I was amazed by this session and believe this to be one of the best sessions so far. I do hope every year’s VIA participants can have his class.
