Applying Design Thinking to the Codesign of Planetary Health Curricula

ABSTRACT Background Health professionals have a responsibility to address planetary health. Consensus exists on the knowledge, skills and values required for planetary health education, yet optimal educational approaches for teaching how to include planetary health effectively in curricula are unclear. We aim to describe how we used design thinking to co‐design planetary health curricula. Approach Faculty ( n = 8), health professionals ( n = 8) and health professional students ( n = 14) representing medicine, nursing, psychology, biomedicine, pharmacy and nutrition and dietetics participated in four, 90‐min design thinking workshops over 2 months. Each workshop was followed by a 60‐min reflection with eight academic staff. Audio recordings from both the workshops and faculty reflections were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Evaluation Design thinking was valuable due to the multiple, diverse and rapid workable curriculum ideas and solutions that were generated across the three participant groups, while acknowledging aspects of complexity. Uncertainty and discomfort were generated and tolerated throughout the process, as faculty learned ‘with’ participants in the design process. This approach to design thinking created inclusive spaces that promoted participants' agency. Implications Design thinking appears to be a feasible and useful tool to address complex curriculum challenges like planetary health, where health professions students and workforce voices are crucial for curricular relevance, effectiveness and timely responses.