The integration of design thinking into medical informatics education is essential for development of innovative and effective health information technologies in our work domain. Design thinking is a problem-solving approach which focuses on understanding complex user needs and creating innovative solutions befitting those complex needs. It is a widely used approach for developing user-centered products and services, and distils creative methodologies to improve usability and effectiveness of health information systems.

This workshop discusses use cases for design thinking in medical informatics education, provides an overview of the lessons learned of incorporating design thinking into the curriculum, and will challenge the audience to experiment with two of the design thinking phases. The workshop also outlines the implications of design thinking for medical informatics educators, students and our work field, and provides suggestions for incorporating design thinking into existing medical informatics programs.