Author: Yubing Du

Using design thinking to solve healthcare challenges – studying our MSc in Healthcare and Design

Through our Master’s in Healthcare and Design, we aim to enable creative thinkers and change-makers to drive forward innovative, human-centred approaches to healthcare service delivery. If you want to lead innovation in healthcare systems, services and spaces, this is the course for you. To find out what it’s like to study with us, we caught up with Jeremy Chui, one of our alumni, who was awarded a distinction for this programme. Read on to explore some of the design projects that he worked on during his studies.

Combining medicine and design

What’s it like to study our MSc in Health Policy?

Our MSc Health Policy Programme aims to equip students with the skills to critically evaluate existing and emerging health policies and nurture future health policymakers, both in the UK and internationally. This year, we have digitised and refreshed our course to provide students with a more flexible and engaged learning approach.

We’re pleased to have three students share their stories with us. They talk about their motivations to apply, enjoyable module experiences and how they use the knowledge they gained in their current work. Read their stories below and get a flavour of what it’s like to study with us. 

Making care safer: What’s it like to study our MSc in Patient Safety?

Last year, our Institute launched a new fully online MSc Patient Safety Programme. Developed in partnership with Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the course aims to develop global leaders and changemakers in patient safety who can catalyse improvements and innovation in healthcare practice across the globe. As we open applications for its second year, we’re delighted to have a student from our first cohort, Charlotte Parsley, share her experience of the course with us.

“I have a clinical background in midwifery, specifically in patient safety and clinical governance. I chose to further my education with Imperial due to my strong interest in patient safety and Imperial’s academic reputation.”

Re-designing healthcare environments with a healing architecture – The Imperial Breast Unit

The Imperial Breast Unit is an internationally renowned breast research centre and one of the largest breast units in the UK. The unit receives 150 new patients per week and around 400 to 450 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed each year. According to the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (2011/2012), nine out of ten of the lowest-rated cancer patient experiences are at large London NHS Trusts.

Mr Daniel Leff, consultant breast surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and programme lead for IGHI’s MSc Healthcare and Design, worked with postgraduate students from a range of healthcare and design backgrounds on the course using human-centred design to improve the patient experience at the Imperial Breast Unit.