Abstract:

While U.S. medical science has grown significantly more complex over the last century, the educational technologies with which students are taught to engage with medicine are geared towards promoting functional rather than socially-critical functional engagement. This educational approach contributes to clinical realities in which ethics can be relegated to a mechanistic, procedural role (e.g., in obtaining informed consent) rather than leveraged as an opportunity for patient-centered healthcare (e.g., ascertaining visions of patient goals for healthcare).

To a) enable aspiring clinicians to grapple critically with medical science in ways that prepare them to empathetically read diverse clinical situations/texts, b) cultivate spaces conducive to democratic participation in healthcare, and c) devise evaluation methods (epidemiological and social) which produce actionable data of shared value to be used in improving population health and wellness, the research and development team is designing and mini-piloting a curriculum which leverages design research—the creation of an artifact through the research method itself—as an educational technology through which to bridge critical theory with practical education. As an educational technology, design research fosters an environment that is naturally collaborative and oriented towards problem-based learning. Such problem-based learning, supported by an integrated curricula featuring critical theory texts, encourages students to explore epistemic and practical communities, and to produce new frameworks of expertise that operationalize democratic participation in healthcare pursuits. The integrated curriculum being developed leverages novel ways of engaging with texts (e.g., using problem statement formats to identify areas of practical opportunity) to produce unique and unprecedented collaborations (e.g., between social science/design students, clinicians, and healthcare non-governmental organizations).

This paper will explore the use of design research as an educational technology in the medical education space as it is theorized/operationalized by the research and development team, will situate the potentiality of design research within current educational practices, and will explore the affordances and limitations of a design research approach to medical education. Ultimately, this paper seeks to operationalize design research as a tool for educators who wish to reframe the role of ethics and expertise within clinical spaces.

Keywords:

Design research, problem-based learning, project-based learning, integrated curriculum, critical theory, clinical pedagogy, expertise, ethics, democratic design.