The One Week Shadow
As the old adage goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but what happens if you don’t even know what’s broken? Cue the Clinical Experience Programme
At the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) we endeavour to push the envelope in the medical field through research and development into medical devices, instrumentation, and computational modelling. Part of the purpose of research at ABI is to improve the work of clinicians, however, it’s hard to add value to a system that you’ve little experience using. This is particularly true with early-career researchers (ECRs), hence the creation of the Clinical Experience Program.
This program allows ECRs to observe clinicians in their day-to-day business, effectively becoming their shadows. This provides the opportunity to witness and learn how the medical systems operate whilst using an engineer’s lens to critically assess its strengths and weaknesses.
For my clinical experience, I hit the jackpot by being assigned to a cardiothoracic surgeon, Krish Chaudhuri. I’ve always wanted to see what really goes on in the operating room and thanks to Krish and this program that desire was finally satiated. Just a snippet of my one-week involved observing multiple heart bypasses, a lobectomy, a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and the implanting of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).
Melody Chen of Ara Manawa (centre) is leading a workshop with the Clinical Experience Program participants at Studio 160 (Grafton).
All the members of the cardiothoracic ward were super friendly, albeit understandably a little perplexed as to why an engineer was there. However, once they found out that I was a biomedical engineer looking for ways to make their jobs easier, they were particularly happy to run me through all their points of frustration. Their feedback, coupled with my observations, provided numerous ideas for future research.
For anyone looking to improve our health system, there’s no better place to start. The unfettered access to the thoughts and actions of so many clinicians provides an unparalleled opportunity to glean valuable insight from those on the medical front-line and to see first-hand what really goes on in our hospitals. Afterall, how can you fix a problem you don’t know exists.
Ara Manawa collaborated with i3 (the innovation arm of Waitematā) and Te Titoki Mataora (the Medtech Research Translator) to deliver this program. We reached out to clinicians within Te Toka Tumai to gauge interest, and collect potential placement opportunities and projects. We then connected the students with clinical placements suited to their interests. At the end of the programme, we participated in a panel to review and provide feedback on the solutions the students developed.
THANKS TO
Sarv Taherian, Principal Design Strategist, Ara Manawa
Krish Chaudhuri, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Te Whatu Ora
Melody Chan, Product Design Engineer, Ara Manawa
The team at Te Titoki Mataora
Entire Cardiothoracic Ward
AUTHOR
Andrew Lowry, PhD Student, Auckland Bioengineering institute
CONTRIBUTORS
Krish Chaudhuri
Te Titoki Mataora
Auckland Bioengineering Institute