Prescription for Curricular Revision: Application of Design Thinking Principles

Continuous quality improvement of the professional curriculum can present as a series of complex problems to solve. Schools and colleges of pharmacy would benefit from a structured framework to approach complex problem solving while engaging faculty and students throughout the process. Design thinking is one framework that promotes creative problem-solving, while using techniques that make ambiguity and failure more comfortable during the iterative process. In this commentary, we describe how we applied the design thinking process to revise our professional didactic curriculum, concluding with a new plan of study approved by the faculty. We explain what we believe our key drivers of success were, the main challenges that we faced in each of the 5 phases of design thinking, and what we did to overcome these challenges. Overall, design thinking led to a successful curricular revision that allowed for transparency, established trust among participants, and democratized the lines of communication. As we move into the revised curriculum's implementation, we anticipate some resistance as course coordinators and instructors develop courses incorporating the Curriculum and Curricular Assessment Committee (CCAC) vision of the designed curriculum. Developing a recurring process to maintain alignment between the intended, designed, and delivered curriculum is a necessary next step. This should allow earlier identification and quicker resolution of curricular concerns through a shorter and smaller scale design thinking process.