Integrating Design Thinking Into Undergraduate Nursing Education

Integrating Design Thinking Into Undergraduate Nursing Education: a Pilot RCT

Previous studies have demonstrated that design thinking workshops can indeed produce these effects in healthcare education settings. However, its effectiveness in nursing curriculum is inconclusive. This research project aims to introduce and integrate design thinking principles into the undergraduate nursing program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Nethersole School of Nursing. By implementing a comprehensive study encompassing desktop research, a 3-hour introductory workshop, and pre- and post-evaluations over a 9-month period, the investigators seek to enhance nursing students' problem-solving skills, empathy, creativity, collaboration, and patient-centered care attitude.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nurse Training
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Design thinking workshop

Detailed Description

Subjects A group of 50 second-year undergraduate nursing students at CUHK Nethersole School of Nursing who volunteer to participate in the research. Participants will be randomly assigned to either: i) Intervention group (n=25): Receives the design thinking workshop; ii) Control group (n=25): Receives no intervention (continues with regular curriculum). According to Hertzog (2008), a minimum of 25 subjects per group would be considered sufficient for the purposes of pilot testing. Students who have prior experience in joining design thinking workshop will be excluded.

Methodology This study employs a pilot randomized controlled design to evaluate the impact of a design thinking workshop on undergraduate nursing students' problem-solving abilities and related skills. The methodology encompasses a comprehensive literature review, pre- and post-workshop assessments, and a 3-hour introductory workshop on design thinking principles applied to healthcare challenges.

1. Systematic review and preparation of material A systematic review will be conducted to examine existing applications of design thinking in healthcare education, particularly in nursing, informing workshop curriculum development in terms of content, delivery method and evaluation approach.
2. Pre-Workshop Evaluation An online survey one month before the workshop will be conducted to assess participants' baseline skills and attitudes using validated instruments. These instruments measure problem-solving abilities, empathy, creativity, collaboration, and patient-centered care attitudes.
3. Design Thinking Workshop A 3-hour introductory workshop will cover the five stages of design thinking: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Students will work on scenario of real-world healthcare challenges, and apply design thinking principles to develop innovative solutions.
4. Post-Workshop Evaluation Immediately after the workshop, participants will complete a post-workshop survey using the same instruments as the pre-workshop evaluation, allowing for comparison of scores.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 29
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • The Nethersole School of Nursing, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Undergraduate nursing students at CUHK Nethersole School of Nursing who volunteer to participate in the research.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Nil

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; Participants in the experimental group will receive a 3-hour design thinking workshop. The workshop will cover the five stages of design thinking, allowing students to apply these principles to real-world healthcare challenges in their future practice	Other: Design thinking workshop; The workshop will cover the five stages of design thinking, allowing students to apply these principles to real-world healthcare challenges in their future practice.
No Intervention: Control group; will NOT receive design thinking workshop

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Problem-solving Abilities	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	Baseline
Problem-solving Abilities	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	immediately after workshop

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Creativity	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	Baseline
Creativity	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	immediately after workshop
Collaboration	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	Baseline
Collaboration	rating on the Eight subscales of capabilities in Student engagement questionnaire (SEQ) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	immediately after workshop
Empathy	rating on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Health Professions Student Version (JSE-HPS) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	Baseline
Empathy	rating on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Health Professions Student Version (JSE-HPS) (1=Strongly disagree, 5= Strongly Agree)	immediately after workshop
Patient-centered Care attitude	rating on the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), 1= strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree	Baseline
Patient-centered Care attitude	rating on the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), 1= strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree	immediately after workshop

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Carmen WH Chan, The Nethersole School of Nursing

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 31, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 1, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): November 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Empathy; Nursing education; Collaboration; Creativity; Design thinking; Problem-solving skills; Patient-centered care attitude
• Other Study ID Numbers: 24-0219; SBRE-24-0219 (Other Identifier: Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No