“To acquire knowledge one must study, but to acquire wisdom one must observe”
Students who join medicine come with many professional and personal aspirations. While meeting the needs of the profession and nation, the MBBS program is also designed to create time and opportunity to explore future interests creating a diversity of choices within a specified, framework that allows students to be a part of a laboratory, participate in research, be a part of the super-specialty care team or interact with patients in a community care setting is a mandate of the new regulations notified by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
As Medical Innovation Creativity and Entrepreneurship (M.I.C.E) Labs is situated at the prestigious Grant Government Medical College (GGMC), we were extremely delighted to host a group of 5 students in Batch 1 and a group of 3 students in batch 2 as a part of Electives: For Undergraduate Medical Education Program.
The theme that was proposed for this program was “Design Thinking in Healthcare” wherein the students got an in-depth experience of things outside the traditional boundaries of the core program to reflect, plan and grow in their walks of life!
Batch 1: To begin with batch 1 as they were new to the world of Medical Innovations, they were briefed about it and their role as reactors, they were taught the process of Design Thinking and using the acquired knowledge during these sessions on how to build user-centric solutions, they were allocated with the following problem statement: Develop Innovative ways to create awareness in order to improve the nutritional status among malnourished children
They were also taught how to build Personal and Product Websites using non-coder software and its importance in building an online presence and networking.
The students started off with their primary and secondary research hypotheses and using the tools of design thinking interacted with the core, direct, and indirect stakeholders pertaining to the stumbling block. For the final Solution building after several brainstorming sessions, they decided to create Hidden Hunger, an initiative to raise awareness amongst mothers and caregivers on the repercussions of Malnourishment and how they can be tackled. The electives for batch 1 came to an end with the submission of their proposed solutions in the form of hand-made charts, Digital Comics, Websites of their Initiative, and their Personal Websites
A quick glimpse of their work:
Batch 2: After the successful accomplishment of batch 1, batch 2 commenced on the very next day. They were made known to the field of Medical Innovations and its growing importance and need. The students were trained on how they can use the process of design thinking to get through problems using simple yet highly effective tools in order to build solutions that are user-focused. Their problem statement was: Innovative ways to create awareness on improving the Quality-of-Life in Postmenopausal Women. They were also taught how to build Personal and Product Websites using non-coder software and its importance.
Similarly, they too started off with their primary and secondary research hypothesis to find the root cause of the problem, and after interacting with the stakeholders who were directly and indirectly involved in the muddle, they generated a digital solution in the form of a mobile app named After Pause; an app to help and educate women with their menopause transition and combat the stress that is caused due to lack of awareness. The electives for batch 2 concluded with them submitting their proposed solutions in the form of a wireframe of their App, the Website of their Initiative, and their Personal Websites.
A quick glimpse of their work :
This elective program gave students an opportunity to think of a career beyond examinations and gave them an impetus to think laterally besides laying down the foundation for future professional pathways. It also helped them to match their aspirations with the ground reality in a field of their dreams using research and innovation.