A Reflection on the Use of Mind Mapping for Health Professions Education 

 Challenge 

 The delivery of healthcare education for nurses , physicians , dentists , physical therapists , social workers ,   and pharmacists has historically taken a siloed approach . This approach is problematic because these   individuals are expected to work together in teams to provide quality patient care , yet they are not   trained to do so .   To address the “ wicked ” problem of how might we increase interprofessional   educational opportunities across healthcare disciplines , a national organization convened a group of   healthcare educators to participate in a design - thinking workshop . 

 Selection 

 The organizers selected a mind mapping exercise using sticky notes to get participants thinking   creatively about how we as educators might address the wicked problem .   As we learned in this course ,   mind mapping is a visual method for helping others to understand how ideas relate to each other and is   one of the most universal ways to brainstorm . The unstructured setup allows individual ideas and   thoughts to flow freely . Similar concepts are grouped together , allowing ideas to jump around among   topics , rather than forcing them down a list .   I have personally used this technique in multiple   workshops and sessions to address difficult and challenging issues in medical education . 

 Application 

 In the most recent exercise using the mind mapping technique , we gathered together in one room 30   health professions educators and divided them into groups of six .   Everyone was given a pen and a set of   sticky notes and sent to their respective groups to begin brainstorming how we might increase   interprofessional educational opportunities across multiple healthcare disciplines . We had only one rule   which was that every idea offered up must in some way be “ actionable . ”   Each group was assigned a   staff person to manage the sticky notes , to group them on a wall according to concepts , and to refuse   any idea that was not actionable .   Each team was challenged to develop at least 50 different ideas over   20 minutes .   After the 20 minutes , each group reviewed their sticky notes and if necessary moved them   around for better concept grouping .   As you might expect , the exercise created a lot of noise and   excitement in the room as participants brainstormed and wrote down their ideas .   Once this activity was   completed , participants were paired with a participant from another group .   Each participant was asked   to share the ideas generated from their group session and to select one best idea for prototyping later   that afternoon . 

 Insight 

 Most of my previous experience with mind mapping exercises has been limited to 90 - minute workshops ,   and even in those sessions , the actual mind mapping part of the workshop lasted no more than 45   minutes .   The session I described above took place over a total of 4 hours .   I really appreciated having   another 2.5 hours to dig a little deeper and experience design - thinking methodology more fully .   Each   group generated at least 30 ideas , and several groups generated more than 50 ideas .   This process is   amazing for generating a lot of ideas in a very short time .   One downside was the small size of the room   in which the activity took place .   We worked in a small , windowless hotel conference room which was   not very conducive to creative thinking – although we did not let that stop us !   In the future , however , I 

 would want to make sure the room set up was appropriate for the size of the group and that the   surroundings encouraged creativity . 

 Approach 

 For this activity , mind mapping was a terrific design - thinking tool to use .   It rapidly engaged people and   moved them outside their comfort zone .   A lot of very good , actionable ideas were generated and are   available for continued discussion and thinking about this wicked problem .   I plan to use this   methodology more in future workshops . 

 With that said , there are other design - thinking tools that could have been used in this exercise .   I am a   fan of storytelling , or using narrative , to develop empathy around an issue or challenge .   This method   can really create a sense of urgency and move people to action quickly .   For example , we know that   patient care is improved when educational barriers are removed , and healthcare providers learn to work   cooperatively in teams .   In this workshop , the organizers could have used a story , perhaps a patient   story which described a poor patient outcome because of healthcare providers not working together as   a team .   This kind of story motivates , helps communicate the problem , and opens the door to   envisioning a different future . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: A Reflection on the Use of Mind Mapping for Health Professions Education 

 Challenge 

 The delivery of healthcare education for nurses , physicians , dentists , physical therapists , social workers ,   and pharmacists has historically taken a siloed approach . This approach is problematic because these   individuals are expected to work together in teams to provide quality patient care , yet they are not   trained to do so .   To address the “ wicked ” problem of how might we increase interprofessional   educational opportunities across healthcare disciplines , a national organization convened a group of   healthcare educators to participate in a design - thinking workshop . 

 Selection 

 The organizers selected a mind mapping exercise using sticky notes to get participants thinking   creatively about how we as educators might address the wicked problem .   As we learned in this course ,   mind mapping is a visual method for helping others to understand how ideas relate to each other and is   one of the most universal ways to brainstorm . The unstructured setup allows individual ideas and   thoughts to flow freely . Similar concepts are grouped together , allowing ideas to jump around among   topics , rather than forcing them down a list .   I have personally used this technique in multiple   workshops and sessions to address difficult and challenging issues in medical education . 

 Application 

 In the most recent exercise using the mind mapping technique , we gathered together in one room 30   health professions educators and divided them into groups of six .   Everyone was given a pen and a set of   sticky notes and sent to their respective groups to begin brainstorming how we might increase   interprofessional educational opportunities across multiple healthcare disciplines . We had only one rule   which was that every idea offered up must in some way be “ actionable . ”   Each group was assigned a   staff person to manage the sticky notes , to group them on a wall according to concepts , and to refuse   any idea that was not actionable .   Each team was challenged to develop at least 50 different ideas over   20 minutes .   After the 20 minutes , each group reviewed their sticky notes and if necessary moved them   around for better concept grouping .   As you might expect , the exercise created a lot of noise and   excitement in the room as participants brainstormed and wrote down their ideas .   Once this activity was   completed , participants were paired with a participant from another group .   Each participant was asked   to share the ideas generated from their group session and to select one best idea for prototyping later   that afternoon . 

 Insight 

 Most of my previous experience with mind mapping exercises has been limited to 90 - minute workshops ,   and even in those sessions , the actual mind mapping part of the workshop lasted no more than 45   minutes .   The session I described above took place over a total of 4 hours .   I really appreciated having   another 2.5 hours to dig a little deeper and experience design - thinking methodology more fully .   Each   group generated at least 30 ideas , and several groups generated more than 50 ideas .   This process is   amazing for generating a lot of ideas in a very short time .   One downside was the small size of the room   in which the activity took place .   We worked in a small , windowless hotel conference room which was   not very conducive to creative thinking – although we did not let that stop us !   In the future , however , I 

 would want to make sure the room set up was appropriate for the size of the group and that the   surroundings encouraged creativity . 

 Approach 

 For this activity , mind mapping was a terrific design - thinking tool to use .   It rapidly engaged people and   moved them outside their comfort zone .   A lot of very good , actionable ideas were generated and are   available for continued discussion and thinking about this wicked problem .   I plan to use this   methodology more in future workshops . 

 With that said , there are other design - thinking tools that could have been used in this exercise .   I am a   fan of storytelling , or using narrative , to develop empathy around an issue or challenge .   This method   can really create a sense of urgency and move people to action quickly .   For example , we know that   patient care is improved when educational barriers are removed , and healthcare providers learn to work   cooperatively in teams .   In this workshop , the organizers could have used a story , perhaps a patient   story which described a poor patient outcome because of healthcare providers not working together as   a team .   This kind of story motivates , helps communicate the problem , and opens the door to   envisioning a different future .
### Output: 