Think back to your last virtual medical appointment. Maybe the video link did not work, or the app crashed mid-conversation. Perhaps you felt more like “just another number waiting in line” than a patient being cared for. While telemedicine has opened doors to access care from anywhere, too often the experience feels clunky and impersonal.
This is where design thinking steps in: a process that does not just ask “How do we deliver care online?” but “How do we make online care feel human, accessible, and empowering?”
The Heart of Design Thinking
At its core, design thinking is about empathy and iteration. It requires walking in the shoes of patients, families, and providers to uncover real needs, then brainstorming, prototyping, and testing solutions until they fit seamlessly into people’s lives.
In telemedicine, that might mean:
- An elderly patient with arthritis who needs large, easy-to-tap buttons instead of small, complicated icons.
- Someone living in a rural area whose slow internet calls for a low-bandwidth option that still works reliably.
- A busy doctor who does not want to shuffle between five different apps but needs one simple, all-in-one dashboard.
When you start with empathy, technology evolves to meet humans, not the other way around.
Why Telemedicine Needs a Design Overhaul
Telemedicine skyrocketed during COVID-19, but its growth was not always graceful. Systems were often rushed, with a focus on getting online rather than getting it right. This resulted in many platforms lacking cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, and patient-centered workflows.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement stresses the importance of co-design—bringing patients, families, and providers together to shape telehealth systems that are safe, equitable, and meaningful. Without this, virtual care risks becoming just a digitized version of an already strained system.
Real-World Stories of Design Thinking in Telemedicine
London’s Urgent COVID-19 Clinic (LUC3)
At the height of the pandemic, London healthcare teams built a telemedicine system in weeks, guided by design thinking. They created care “bundles” with self-monitoring tools, pulse oximeters, follow-up calls, and clear escalation pathways. Crucially, the service was refined continuously through patient and clinician feedback. They eventually developed a system that was not only safe and timely but also equitable and centered on real patient needs.
Virtual Care Training for Doctors
Telemedicine is not just about patients, it is also about supporting providers. A recent project in 2022 applied design thinking to train medical residents for virtual care. By prototyping tools with clinicians in mind, they ensured doctors had what they needed to deliver empathetic, effective remote care.
Rural Virtual Clinics in South Africa
In rural South Africa, researchers used user-centered design to co-create a telemedicine platform with local doctors and nurses. The system was tested and refined until it scored 80.6/100 in usability and rated “good to excellent”, proving that when users shape the design, adoption and effectiveness soar.
The Patient Experience: What Better Design Looks Like
When design thinking is applied, telemedicine becomes more than a video call:
- Simplicity for All Ages: Easy navigation, fewer clicks, and “tech-lite” options make care accessible even for those less tech-savvy.
- Built-in Trust: Patients co-create solutions, building trust in a system that reflects their voices.
- Cultural & Language Inclusion: Multilingual interfaces and culturally sensitive care pathways make telemedicine equitable.
- Seamless Integration: Providers see all relevant info in one place, no juggling apps mid-consultation.
Beyond Healthcare: A Design Shift in Mindset
Some organizations are already reimagining telemedicine at scale.
- Mercy Virtual in Missouri built the first “hospital with no beds”, a facility dedicated solely to telemedicine, where design thinking drives both patient experience and provider workflow.
- Philips Virtual Care Stations place private pods in underserved communities, offering accessible telehealth “micro-clinics” designed for real-world constraints.
User experience studies, like those from Sherpaa, show that letting patients text their doctors, rather than relying only on video calls, often feels easier, more comfortable, and more accessible
Wrapping It Up
Design thinking is not just about making telemedicine look better, it is about making it work better for real people. By embedding empathy, iteration, and inclusion, telemedicine transforms from “cold tech” into a bridge of trust and healing.
The future of virtual care will not be decided by algorithms alone. It will be designed with patients, by patients, and for patients.
