Innovating health care: key characteristics of human-centered design

AbstractHuman-centered design is about understanding human needs and how design can respond to these needs. With its systemic humane approach and creativity, human-centered design can play an essential role in dealing with today ’s care challenges. ‘Design’ refers to both the process of designing and the outcome of that process, which includes physical products, services, procedures, strategies and policies. In this article, we address the three key characteristics of human-centered design, focusing on its implementat ion in health care: (1) developing an understanding of people and their needs; (2) engaging stakeholders from early on and throughout the design process; (3) adopting a systems approach by systematically addressing interactions between the micro-, meso- and macro-levels of sociotechnical care system s, and the transition from individual interests to collective interests.
Source: International Journal for Quality in Health Care - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research