My father, who practiced medicine for over 30 years and participated in the education of hundreds of doctors, once told me that “there’s nothing worse than a creative doctor.” He said this in the context of clinical medicine, specifically regarding a doctor’s duty to base their practice on evidence and apply knowledge. A doctor should know what they’re doing, not try to invent solutions. I understand why he says this; I wouldn’t want the doctor treating me to try to invent solutions with my health either. Evidence-based medicine should be the cornerstone of clinical practice.
But it’s not just clinical practice. In general, health isn’t considered a creative field. I believe, however, that healthcare cannot be reduced to the application of specialized knowledge and techniques, nor can it be guided by fixed parameters as the natural sciences might be. In the words of Dr. Israel Lerman, “Medicine is not an exact science; it is a practice grounded in science, but unlike science, which seeks to find general laws, medicine deals with particular cases involving numerous variables that cannot be controlled. (…) Medicine is also an art that develops through a human relationship, and not a precisely symmetrical one. The patient and the doctor are unequal in more ways than one; one is sick and vulnerable, the other has the power conferred by their knowledge of the disease.”
Because of this human and relational nature, I am convinced that medicine, and healthcare in general, can greatly benefit from the application of creative methodologies such as design thinking and service design.
First, because these approaches foster a human-centered perspective, where each person becomes a more attentive listener and a more astute observer. And second, because by applying creative thinking, we equip ourselves to help build a culture of well-being, going beyond simply being service providers.
Ultimately, several stakeholders benefit. First and foremost, the patient receives more humanized care, their experience is considered, and their relationship with their doctors, well-being, and health improves. This is achieved not only through empathy (understanding their perspective, pain, and needs) but also by involving them in the creative process. In service design, we utilize co-creation techniques , such as ideation workshops, simulations, and prototyping, where patients themselves can participate in designing the services they receive. Similarly, the staff responsible for providing the service (doctors, nurses, orderlies, assistants, etc.) can participate. This allows their different (and sometimes conflicting) perspectives to converge and reach mutually beneficial agreements. Finally, the administrative perspective is always involved as well. Hospital managers, insurance companies, and the healthcare system are all important stakeholders whose interests and positions must be heard to ensure the service is sustainable and profitable, and to optimize available resources.
Healthcare services present numerous challenges that can be addressed creatively. Consider how difficult it can be to navigate a hospital for the first time without directions, spend the night in an emergency room waiting for a bed, or spend the night hospitalized with nurses waking you every hour to take your vital signs or administer medication; to move around the hospital in a wheelchair or walker, to dress and undress after surgery, and so on. Not to mention what patients experience before and after treatment: scheduling appointments, managing approvals with their insurance company, sometimes even traveling to another city for care, among many other situations. In a project we conducted, we discovered that three of the five main reasons why a patient discontinued their breast cancer treatment were related to non-clinical factors, such as financial difficulties, transportation issues, and emotional distress. How much can we improve people’s health if we also focus, creatively, on improving these conditions!
At Blaster, we’ve designed many services and experiences related to healthcare. From improving the experience of breast cancer patients to understanding how clinical data analysis can lead to more and better treatments and personalized medicine, we’ve seen firsthand the benefits of design . Thinking and service design in healthcare. Therefore, if you are in charge of a clinic, hospital, insurance company, or healthcare provider, we invite you to tell us about the challenges you face so that together we can creatively find solutions and improve your service.
