JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Medical education has traditionally focused on mastering biomedical knowledge, clinical skills and professionalism. Yet it remains poorly equipped to prepare doctors for the complex, rapidly changing health systems they will work in. Despite repeated calls for transformative learning progress in teaching system innovation has been limited. Current curricula produce clinicians adept at treating disease but ill-prepared to address system failures or lead change. Embedding patient-centred innovation within training offers a solution. This approach integrates design thinking, value-based healthcare and co-design with patients to cultivate the metacompetence required to manage change. Evidence shows that what works in practice is embedding innovation within quality improvement, multidisciplinary collaboration and providing protected time for engagement. Teaching these principles early can normalise innovation as integral, not peripheral, to clinical practice. Lessons from the successful integration of communication skills and ethics into curricula demonstrate that cultural transformation is achievable. Practical strategies include incorporating design-thinking modules, patient co-creation exercises and innovation projects alongside existing quality improvement and leadership programmes. Reframing innovation as a professional responsibility rather than an optional pursuit can empower clinicians to act as catalysts for system transformation. From anatomy to innovation, medical education must once again evolve, cultivating doctors not only skilled in treating patients but also capable of healing the systems that serve them.