Experiencia interdisciplinaria para el diseño de productos para la salud / Interdisciplinary experience for the design of health care products

RESUMEN

Background: Training of innovative health professionals is necessary for the development of an effective health system in a limited resources context. However, the professionals underestimate their innovative role and receive sparse training in this issue. Meanwhile, industrial designers are trained to innovate but have a weak knowledge about health issues. Aim: To describe the outcomes of a study based on Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) where health and industrial design students learned about product development aimed to solve health problems. Material and Methods: Twenty industrial design students, seven health care students and nine teachers of both disciplines participated in a User Centered Design workshop. Using the CBL method, they were challenged to develop products to tackle a health problem. At the end of the challenge, teachers and students evaluated the products using a semantic differential method and answered a questionnaire assessing the activity. Results: In the semantic differential method, all participants evaluated usefulness, functionality and organization of the product rather than its originality. The greatest discrepancies in evaluation were found between design and health teachers. Students positively evaluated the challenge, although the weakest point was its coordination. Conclusions: CBL and interdisciplinary work are adequate tools for the development of innovative competences, as well as understanding the central elements of innovation.