Aims:
Design thinking is increasingly recognised as valuable for clinicians; exposure commonly occurs late in medical careers. Clinicians working with elderly patients routinely encounter functional decline where patients use assistive devices. There is limited opportunity to critically engage with how these tools play a major role in recovery, adherence, and dignity. This narrative describes an early-stage placement model introducing design thinking to future clinicians.
Methods:
Over three years, a design for health technologies research lab hosted annual undergraduate student placements from psychology, radiological sciences, and specialised health sciences. The most recent placement involved a biomedicine student undertaking a structured learning experience. It included design thinking methods, observation of real-world device use, stakeholder inquiry, task and workflow analysis, rapid prototyping, and iterative critique. The forearm crutch was selected as a deliberately constrained, familiar assistive device commonly encountered in geriatric medicine and rehabilitation medicine.
Results:
The student learned to question default clinical instruments and explore physical, ergonomic, and psychosocial factors. A coherent redesign concept and prototype were produced integrating passive and simple active mechanisms. The process cultivated transferable skills, including reframing clinical problems, recognising limitations in standard devices, and identifying opportunities for innovation in gait aids.
Conclusions:
Using a concrete assistive device redesign as a core case study, early exposure to design thinking can equip future clinicians with creative and analytical skills. Embedding such experiences earlier in medical education may support more reflective, adaptive, and patient-centred care.