This course introduces the fundamentals and applications of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies (ATs). It’s an introduction to a field of engineering dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities. A range of disabilities and assistive technologies will be investigated. The course will examine the three basic approaches of assistive technologies and rehabilitation engineering, namely design for use by the broadest possible population, design for subpopulations, and design for the individual. The relationship between engineering innovation, the engineering design process, the human-technology interface, and the physical medicine and rehabilitation medical community will be explored. The course highlights the models for AT service delivery, the design tools and principles of universal design, and various technology-transfer mechanisms, models, and principles. It explains the process for creating assistive device standards, followed by a review of seating biomechanics and soft tissue biomechanics, followed by the design and service delivery principles of wheelchairs and scooters, functional electrical stimulation and its applications, wheelchair-accessible transportation legislation, and the applications of robotics in medical rehabilitation. Prosthetic and orthotic design and usage, visual and hearing impairment, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology are also discussed.
This course covers the critical issues relating to the risk management and implementation of new technologies in the healthcare sector. It represents a comprehensive summary of the advances in clinical engineering and presents guidance on compliance and safety for hospitals and engineering teams. Students will solve common problems in the area of healthcare technology. Topics include compliance with the European Directive on Medical Devices 93/42/EEC, European Norms EN 60601-1-6, EN 62366, and the American Standards ANSI/AAMI HE75: 2009. Content coverage includes decision support systems, clinical complex systems, and human factor engineering. Examples are fully supported with case studies, and global perspective is maintained throughout. The course emphasizes how to assess new healthcare technologies and what are the most critical issues in their management, and provides information on how to carry out risk analysis for new technological systems or medical software. Various tactics on how to improve the quality and usability of medical devices will be explored.
This course covers the advanced principles, concepts, and operations of medical sensors and devices. The origin and nature of measurable physiological signals are studied, including chemical, electrochemical, optical, and electromagnetic signals. The principles and devices to make the measurements, including design of electronic instrumentation, will be rigorously presented. This course will cover emerging frontiers of general diagnostics, including Electrophysical methods like ECG, EEG, EMG, defibrillator and pacemaker, imaging techniques: X-rays, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance. Supporting instrumentation like incubator, respirator, anesthesia machine and dialysis machine. Surgical techniques with diathermy and laser.
This course provides an introduction to biomedical engineering principles using foundational resources from molecular and cellular biology and physiology, and relating them to various subspecialties of biomedical engineering. The essential molecular biology, cellular biology, and human physiology background are included for students to understand the context in which biomedical engineers work. The course also highlights important advances made over recent years, including iPS cells, microRNA, nanomedicine, imaging technology, biosensors, and drug delivery systems, giving students a modern description of the various subfields of biomedical engineering. Further, this introductory course will provide concrete examples of applying engineering knowledge to solve problems related to human medicine as well as concrete examples of recent technological breakthroughs