From 8 – 12 April an international course on Digital Service Development and Information Management in Health and Welfare Services will take place within the NordPlus programme project Muddie – Multiprofessional Digital Developer. Professionals from technology, design, health care and representatives from leading businesses from Finland, Estonia and Latvia will attend the intensive one week course.

As part of the course students will be separated into multiple groups which will work on a specific project for a Latvian company during the week. The task will revolve around the implementation or improvement of a digital service in health care by using design thinking methods. There will be several guest lectures and practical activities during the week which will touch on design thinking methods and its implementation within the field of health care. Sanita Litiņa, the Deputy Director of the Academic and Research Work of the RSU Red Cross Medical College, admits that ‘service design is a completely new concept in Latvia, although it has been an integral part of health care internationally for a while. Design thinking is not just a method, but also an approach with which to create high quality services.

6 partnering universities will take part in the course: The RSU Red Cross Medical College, Tartu Health Care College, Larea University of Applied Sciences, Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences and the Culture College of the Latvian Academy of Culture.

The opening of the course will take place on 8 April between 10:00 and 13:00, where the following companies will participate by presenting their challenges: Anatomy Next, TET, DigiBrand, CastPring, Veselības centrs 4, Blue Bridge and the Latvian emergency medical service.

The project Muddie – Multiprofessional Digital Developer is expected to conclude with this course. Similar courses have taken place over the last three years as part of this project in the other partnering universities in Finland and Estonia.