MEDISIGN: Educating designers for the operating room

One of the interesting things about medical technology is that it addresses so many diverse subjects, which is indeed the case in all departments of a hospital, in general practice and in other care agencies. Medical technology contributes to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and disorders. Designing for medical applications demands a high level of creativity and inventivity, both in low-tech and in high-tech applications. In over 200 projects with hospitals and companies in the medical field the Delft industrial designer has therefore played an important part in designing innovative products [1]. In the new program Medisign the expertise and networks that have been built up in this area over the past 20 years are being passed on to students. The program is based upon the idea that education of engineers in human anatomy, physiology, medical technoloy, health care systems and even basic surgical techniques will lead to better communication with the medical professionals and to better design solutions in this area. To our knowledge this is the first initiative in Europe in which structural education in anatomy is offered to industrial design engineers.