Asiantuntijablogi: Why Service Design Matters for Medical Device Manufacturers
Lääkinnällisten laitteiden standardit ja sääntely ovat hyvin käyttäjäkeskeisiä, mutta ihmislähtöisten menetelmien käytännön toimeenpano ja käyttäjän osallistaminen ovat valmistajan vastuulla. Tutkimuksen mukaan käyttäjän osallistamisesta tuotteen ja palvelujen kehityksessä on hyötyä sekä potilaalle tai käyttäjälle että laitteen valmistajalle, mutta tällä hetkellä sen hyödyntämisessä olisi parantamisen varaa. Artikkeli keskustelee palvelumuotoilun tarpeesta ja tilasta lääkinnällisten laitteiden maailmassa ja ehdottaa esimerkkejä siitä, miten sitä voisi alkaa hyödyntämään.
Medical device standards and regulations are inherently user-centric: the intended use of a device determines its risk classification and regulatory requirements. However, it is not the role of regulations and standards to provide practical tools for the development of user- and human-centered products and services—this responsibility falls on manufacturers, who must develop the necessary tools and processes.
Traditionally, medical devices have been developed and manufactured by experts from technical fields and medicine. However, rapidly changing customer needs and trends introduce new challenges and opportunities for companies, and mere scientific or technical expertise is no longer sufficient in the competitive and evolving marketplace. B2B products and services increasingly resemble consumer products, and understanding customer journeys in health technology is crucial for multiple reasons, including safety.
User Involvement in Product Development
A profound understanding of customers’ pains, gains, needs, and requirements requires the involvement of users or customers themselves. A recent master’s thesis by Ida Koho1 addresses the importance and current status of user involvement in medical device manufacturers. Based on literature and interviews conducted with Finnish IVD companies, the thesis reveals that there is room for improvement in applying participatory methods and mindsets.
In the worst case, user involvement is completely absent from the product development process2, and there exists a culture of training users instead of designing products to fit the user’s cultural context3. According to the thesis, the benefits of user involvement are wide-ranging and positively impact both the users and the manufacturers of medical devices.
The limited involvement of users in the development of medical devices can be attributed to several factors, including attitudes and a lack of awareness. Service design, as a practical approach to innovation, optimization, and co-creation, holds tremendous potential for improving the performance of medical device manufacturers4,5.
The thesis indicates that no legal or regulatory barriers hinder the use of the service design approach. Instead, the main challenge is a lack of awareness. Furthermore, the lack of industry-specific literature on service design makes it difficult for product managers, as highlighted in the thesis interviews, to connect with this approach. These challenges were the key motivators for Koho to create a service design handbook specifically for medical device manufacturers — something that hadn’t really been seen out there before. The result was Transformation Towards Human-Centered Medical Devices – Service Design for Product Management.
Service Design: An Evolving Discipline in Science
Service design has evolved rapidly over the past decades. Today, it’s no longer limited to things like airline boarding or hotel booking — it is now used across a wide range of organizations, from emerging tech to hospitals, to innovate or improve products, services, and systems. The service design approach is well suited for intangible things like business, strategy, experience, service and sustainability. Problem-solving and innovation in healthcare often require non-linear and systemic thinking. Where service design takes a holistic view, considering all stakeholders around the service, the systemic service design approach uses tools like Gigamap and Mess Mapp to address complex or wicked problems where either the solution or both the problem and the solutions are unknown.6 Examples of these types of problems with high uncertainty are childhood obesity, tuberculosis, COVID19 or climate change.
Service Design in Brief
At its core, service design is about designing with the customer, not for the customer.7 It goes beyond being just a methodology—service design is a comprehensive approach that integrates various elements to create impactful and user-centered solutions. The approach involves:
- A Process: It encourages both divergent and convergent thinking through iterative cycles. The process is adapted to the project, not the other way around.
- A Mindset: It emphasizes empathy, collaboration, and creativity, ensuring that every stage of development considers the human aspect at its core.
- A Set of Tools: From rapid prototyping and empathizing to analyzing, mapping, and ideating, service design provides a versatile toolkit for innovation.
As Professor Mager from the Service Design Network aptly puts it, ”Above all, service design is an attitude that can have a profound influence on the cultures and structures within organizations.”8
Service Design for MedTech
Based on the insights gathered from interviews, observations, and literature, the following tips could prove valuable for applying service design in MedTech:
Prototyping: Dare to show your quick draft and choose prototyping that suits your purpose. There is prototyping that you showcase to the boss or investors, and then there is prototyping done for yourself because you don’t yet have the answers! Quick prototyping, paired with clear communication (is it a looks-like, feels-like, low- or high-fidelity prototype?), can lead to real long-term efficiency.
Creativity: Foster a psychologically safe space where individuals feel comfortable sharing ideas and building on top of others’ ideas. Key ingredients for creativity include intrinsic motivation, freedom, expertise, and creative thinking and process skills.9 Creativity doesn’t always mean inventing something entirely new; often, it’s about the smart fusion of existing ideas or concepts.
Sustainability: Sustainability can offer companies far more than simply fulfilling obligations – it represents a strategic opportunity to enhance business performance.10 Begin by exploring existing circular businesses, at resources like SITRA or Design Forum Finland, and consider enrolling in a sustainable service design course, like the one offered at Aalto University.
Start from somewhere: Service design cannot be learned from books alone. The real insights come when you practice service design thinking, processes, and tools in real-life situations. These hands-on experiences often lead to ”eureka” moments, revealing the power of empathy, a holistic approach, rapid iteration, and visual tools. Here are some examples to help you start practicing user involvement and co-creation:
Example 1: In the worst case, medical device product inserts are designed to meet regulatory requirements rather than to serve the user. A user research-driven and holistic co-creation of inserts or product training could be a great first service design project. Remember, being human-centric doesn’t mean being anti-regulation.
Example 2: Use the service blueprint tool to map your sales or recruitment process, identifying areas where you can improve user experience and streamline operations.
Example 3: Create a stakeholder map for your business and develop a value proposition canvas for two stakeholders you haven’t considered yet. This will help deepen your understanding of their needs and how you can deliver value.
Medical device products are more than goods. Service design assists the manufacturer in designing the invisible aspect of the device, the dimension of experience and service.
Pine and Gilmore’s Experience Economy theory states: “Services are about time well saved, while experiences are about time well spent.”11 In the medical device context, Ida Koho proposes a parallel: “Services are about patient safety, while experiences are about the sense of caring.”
Author
Ida Koho, B.Sc, MBA, is the author of the world’s first service design book dedicated to medical devices. She has a decade of experience in the IVD industry and currently works as a Business Developer in an Aalto University MedTech R2B project.
References
1. Koho, I. (2024). Service design handbook prototype for medical device product management. Master’s thesis, 34, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences.
2. Money, A. G., Barnett, J., Kuljis, J., Craven, M. P., Martin, J. L., & Young, T. (2011). The role of the user within the medical device design and development process: Medical device manufacturers’ perspectives. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 11(1), 15.
3. Rinkus, S., Walji, M., Johnson-Throop, K. A., Malin, J. T., Turley, J. P., Smith, J. W., & Zhang, J. (2005). Human-centered design of a distributed knowledge management system. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 38(1), 4–1
4. Juuso, I., & Seppänen, T. (2023). How the service design approach can empower medical device development to reach its user-centered goals. In: Umar Zakir Abdul Hamid, & Mari Suoheimo (eds.). Service Design for Emerging Technologies Product Development: Bridging the Interdisciplinary Knowledge Gap, pp. 108. Springer.
5. Koho, I. & Brunni A. (2025). Transformation Towards Human-Centered Medical Devices – Service Design for Product Management p.61, Books on Demand, Helsinki.
6. Suoheimo, M., Jones, P., Lee, S. H., & Sevaldson, B. (Eds.). (2025). Systemic Service Design. Taylor & Francis.
7. Stickdorn, M., Hormess, M. E., Lawrence, A., & Schneider, J. (2018). This is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World – A Practitioners’ Handbook (first edition). O’Reilly.
8. Mager, B., Sistig, M., Chen, Y., Ruiz, K., & Corona, C. (2020). The Future of Service Design. Service Design Network
9. Amabile, T. M. (1997). Motivating creativity in organizations: On doing what you love and loving what you do. California Management Review, 40(1), 39–58.
10. Saario M. and Sahimaa O. (2025) Kolme oivallusta, Design Forum Finland. Accessed 7.4.2025 https://designforum.fi/artikkelit/kolme-oivallusta/
11. Pine II, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (2019). Preview + Welcome to the experience economy. In: B. Joseph Pine II, & James H. Gilmore (eds.). The Experience Economy: Competing for Customer Time, Attention, and Money (revised edition), pp. ix–xxx + 1–34. Harvard Business Review Press.
