This course introduces the principles of circular and sustainable product design in healthcare. You will explore the environmental impact of various physical products used in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. You will practice mitigating this impact by using a case of your own, and by the end of the course, you will have developed a practical design proposal that can be shared with colleagues or presented to your management team.
Using a step-by-step approach for product design for sustainable healthcare, you will learn how to identify environmental hotspots in hospitals, analyse clinical contexts, evaluate environmental impacts, and develop circular design solutions. Along the way, you will build your own design narrative by completing a series of practical assignments.
In the first module, we will introduce you to the sustainability aspects of the healthcare system with a strong focus on its environmental impacts. Next, you will learn the concept of design thinking and evaluate your own challenges; and choose a topic to work on throughout this course. In module two you will develop an understanding of the different types of environmental assessment within the healthcare sector. Module three introduces you to different types of visual mapping tools for gaining a good understanding of the clinical context. In module four you will get acquainted with the Circular R-Strategies. Finally, in modules five and six, you will apply these methods to co-create a sustainable redesign for your case.
