Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Career Feature
  • Published:

Career feature

The need for need-finding in medical education

The paradigm of developing a novel technology and applying it to a clinically relevant problem may be dominant in academic medicine, but more emphasis is needed in identifying important clinical problems before looking for solutions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Boms, O. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 434–437 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Yock, P. BMJ Innov. 1, 3 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chandrashekar, P. & Thakkar, A. NEJM Catal. Innov. Care Deliv. (12 March 2018); https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0236

  4. Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Trainee outcomes. https://biodesign.stanford.edu/our-impact/trainee-outcomes.html (accessed 2 February 2023).

  5. Mokarram, N. et al. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 49, 1587–1592 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Protecting vulnerable newborns: an interview with Eric Chebab of Novonate. https://biodesign.stanford.edu/our-impact/technologies/novonate.html (accessed 2 February 2023).

  7. Novonate. Successful debut of catheter protection and securement product for babies in intensive care. https://www.novonate.com/post/successful-debut-lifebubble (20 June 2019).

  8. Sorbero, M. E. et al. Addressing Social Determinants of Health Needs of Dually Enrolled Beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage Plans: Findings from Interviews and Case Studies (RAND Corporation, 2018); https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2634.html

  9. Kelley, D. & Kelley, T. The journey from design thinking to creative confidence. IDEO U. https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/from-design-thinking-to-creative-confidence (accessed 2 February 2023).

  10. Charlab, R. & Zhang, L. In Pharmacogenomics: Methods in Molecular Biology vol. 1015 (eds Innocenti, F. & van Schaik, R.) (Humana Press, 2013).

  11. Wall, J. et al. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 45, 1163–1171 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. The Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design. Our spiral innovation model takes an iterative approach to healthcare innovation. https://cbid.bme.jhu.edu/innovations/spiral-innovation-model/ (accessed 2 February 2023).

  13. Dell Medical School. Designing better systems: Dell Med students partner on real-world health challenges https://dellmed.utexas.edu/news/designing-better-systems-dell-med-students-partner-on-real-world-health-challenges (18 November 2021).

  14. Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Paradigm-shifting curriculum. https://medicine.illinois.edu/academics/curriculum/paradigm-shifting-curriculum (accessed 2 February 2023).

  15. Walker, M. III et al. Cell. Mol. Bioeng. 11, 157–161 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Texas A&M University School of Engineering Medicine. About ENMED. https://enmed.tamu.edu/ (accessed 2 February 2023).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sainiteesh Maddineni.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maddineni, S., Kumar, W. The need for need-finding in medical education. Nat Biotechnol 41, 1028–1030 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01855-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01855-z

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing