Educating engineers in the clinic: Healthcare technology innovation in action
The healthcare landscape is evolving at pace – and engineering is at the heart of this technology-driven transformation.
Published on the 23 September 2024
Engineering technology should always be considered and created with the benefit of humanity front of mind. This is especially true in biomedical engineering – where the outcomes being developed have the capacity to truly change and save human lives.
The role of health technology continues to be a focus area for UNSW Engineering, underpinned by an enduring mission to create the cutting-edge innovations that improve patient outcomes. With specialized courses, clinical placements, and cutting-edge research initiatives, UNSW is at the forefront of merging engineering expertise with clinical needs.
After all – if engineers aren’t getting first-hand exposure to how their technology exists in a clinical environment, are we truly designing for the good of humankind?
Bringing engineers into clinical environments
The Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering recently launched the Health Technology Innovation (BIOM9910) course, to bridge the gap between engineering education and clinical practice. Students are given real-world exposure through partnerships with hospitals and medical institutions, while clinical placements pair students with clinicians. These pairings allow for the formation of interdisciplinary teams, working together to better identify unmet clinical needs.
Complementing academic research with clinical practical education equips students with the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world settings. It’s a combination that fosters deeper learning, as students encounter the complexities and nuances of healthcare challenges first-hand. By engaging with clinicians, students get to know the human side of healthcare – and this has a net-positive impact on the patient-centred technologies they can design to transform healthcare delivery.
Supporting fearless thinking
The Tyree Institute of Health Engineering (IHealthE) crystallises the faculty’s focus on health technology. They do this in a range of ways – including the establishment of the Innovation Catalyst Awards.
These awards provide tailored support for progressing promising medical technology and software innovations on the path towards clinical implementation. In doing so, the awards aim to transform healthcare practice – translating transformational and cost-effective health and medical technologies to meet patient and clinician needs.
The Assistive Tech Hub – or AT Hub is another initiative of the faculty making life-changing impact at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Rather than focussing on how technology can be developed to have the furthest reach or the most significant advancement, the focus remains clearly on what will have the highest impact on the individual life and circumstances of the client students are working alongside.
Where to next?
The future of health technology engineering is filled with endless, exciting opportunities. One of the most promising areas for impact is personalized medicine. Thanks to advances in data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), engineers are now able to create healthcare solutions that are tailored to individual patients’ genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. This has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach treatment, making healthcare more precise and effective – while AI can assist in low-resource settings to improve global health equity.
Another exciting development is in the field of wearable devices and digital health technologies. These innovations can provide real-time, remote monitoring of patients, enabling healthcare providers to manage chronic diseases more efficiently. Wearable technology improves patient outcomes while also democratising access to healthcare.
The integration of engineering and healthcare will continue to redefine the way we think about and deliver healthcare – making it more accessible, personalized, and efficient. By giving the next generation of engineers first-hand exposure to the needs of patients and the challenges of modern healthcare in clinical environments, they can continue to design solutions that put human needs front and centre.
It's a synergy that has the potential to transform healthcare and human lives in ways we have only just begun to imagine.
Many thanks to Dr Rita Prestigiacomo and A/ Prof. Lauren Kark for their input with this article.
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