Designing Well-Being: Using Design Thinking to Engage Residents in Developing Well-Being Interventions

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychology
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Residency well-being requires addressing both organizational factors and individual resident needs.
• Few successful strategies exist to improve resident well-being.
• Design thinking (DT), a human-centered problem-solving approach, is well-suited for complex issues like well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To teach residents DT techniques for identifying, analyzing, and addressing organizational well-being challenges.
• To explore the utility of DT in developing well-being interventions for medical residents.

Main Methods:

• An 8-month DT program involving workshops and group projects was implemented for internal medicine residents.
• Residents worked in teams to design solutions for improving community, reflection space, peer support, and individualized wellness.
• Post-program interviews assessed resident perceptions of DT for well-being interventions.

Main Results:

• Eighteen residents developed solutions focused on enhancing community and connection through near-peer initiatives.
• Residents reported DT enhanced creative thinking and trust in the program.
• Challenges included time constraints and maintaining momentum during clinical rotations.

Conclusions:

• DT is a valuable tool for needs assessment, intervention piloting, and establishing design principles for residency well-being.
• DT's human-centered focus is ideal for improving institutional culture and community.
• The promotion of creativity and trust through DT has potential applications across medical education.