New BMD teams observing ears, noses and throats – stomachs and kidneys
– BioMedical Design fellows doing their clinical immersion on otolaryngology, gastroenterology and nephrology
The new classes of BioMedical Design fellows got together at the old Skjoldnæsholm Castle on Zealand to mark the transition from boot camp to clinical immersion. At the meet up fellows learned their clinical focus area and their team mates for the next nine months. During Clinical immersion fellows will observe clinical staff to spot important needs in a specific hospital ward. The goal is to help solve needs by developing new devices and technology.
The two Aarhus teams are both concentrating their needs-finding in the ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery department at Aarhus University Hospital. Teams (and their tentative names) are:
Team Prominens: Kasper Linde Christensen, Naja Villadsen, Christian Friis and Jasper Nijkamp
And
Team invENT: Martin Knudsen, Chantelle Driever, Lene Ladegaard Larsen and Sebastian Udholm
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, or ear, nose and throat (ENT) covers a broad spectrum of diseases such as hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, facial nerve disordes as well as infections and cancer in the ear, nose and throat area.
The Copenhagen teams are (also by working titles):
Team Renaid: Nina Puch Ørnskov, Staffan Holmberg-Thydén, Roeen Roashan and Louise Engel Balling. They will be observing at the Nephrology Clinic at Rigshospitalet where experts work to prevent and treat kidney failure.
Reactions on the new medical focus
Nina Puch Ørnskov, previously an anesthesia nurse, was happy about her new clinical area.
“Nephrology is interesting to me because of all the rather complicated machines used for dialysis. It’s great to look at something this complex with fresh eyes.”
Roeen Roashan, whose background is business and as a senior analyst, originally had a preference for gastroenterology. After learning the nephrology focus, he says:
“I’m happy to go to nephrology. When I look at the heavy problems connected to the patient experience I think we can work with the patient’s quality of life. I think we can find a window for incremental and radical innovation.”
The Green Team: Marie Parslov, Cecilie Ammitzbøll, Chris Gibbs and Rastislav Monosik observing at the Surgical Gastroenterology Department at Rigshospitalet, specialized in (among others) cancer in the upper gastrointestinal tract and late complications from stomach surgery.
More tech solutions awaits
Copenhagen fellow Rastislav Monosik from the Green Team has a background in food chemistry and technology. He is one of four men in the Copenhagen group that consists of one engineer, one holds an MBA, two doctors, one industrial designer, one anesthesia nurse and one nurse who also holds a degree in IT-development.
“I was very happy to go to an area with a lot of technological tools and some robotic solutions. I like the combination of the human factor and tech, and establishing synergy between them. In a near future I think manual labor will be replaced by technology and robots to a much larger extent, including at the hospitals.”
Strong need for innovation
Consulting surgeon at the Surgical Gastroenterology Clinic at Rigshospitalet, Michael Achiam, is thrilled to have the four fellows of the Green Team innovating at ‘his’ ward.
“We experience an explosion in the rise of patients, and our recourses haven’t changed accordingly. But even if our time is scarce we love to have the fellows here, because we need innovation to optimize our working processes to fit the new standards.”