Design thinking is increasingly applied in healthcare and health professions education to generate innovative solutions to difficult problems. The design thinking framework helps individuals approach problems with a user-centered focus; the emphasis is on understanding the user experience, their challenges, and possible design solutions that are aligned with their needs. In this twelve tips paper, we describe strategies that health professions educators can use to prepare for, conduct, and support design thinking. These strategies may also be useful to learners, practitioners, and organizations to address complex problems.
Keywords: Design thinking; creativity; innovation; problem-solving; user-centered design.