CHEPRI: Competencies by Health technology Education in Prevention & Rehabilitation Intertwined
The use of technology in medical sectors has steadily increased over the last years. Especially secondary and tertiary care have been heavily influenced by the emergence of new medical technologies in the form of high techcare and advanced diagnostics. Nevertheless, the domains of prevention and rehabilitation in the primary care setting have not seen the same development when it comes to the use of technology. This is the result of a lack of relevant education that combines the knowledge and use of technology with the clinical reasoning regarding prevention, vitality and rehabilitation in physiotherapy. At the same time, there is an increasing need for physiotherapists that are knowledgeable in both medical engineering on one hand and prevention and rehabilitation in the primary care on the other hand. With people living longer nowadays, there is more emphasis on ability to keep functioning, staying healthy and hence contribute to society for a longer lifetime. In order to effectuate these aspects, more focus needs to be placed on the use and knowledge of technology in the domains of prevention, vitality and rehabilitation. This requires an education that focuses on the prevention and rehabilitation not only of musculoskeletal complaints such as arthrosis or cardiovascular /lung diseases, diabetes etc. but combines this knowledge with insights and competencies in engineering and technology. Students in this program will learn to invent and think of technological solutions for challenges in prevention, vitality and rehabilitation to enhance personalised patient care. In the end, this will lead to the prevention or delay of functional decline and more effective rehabilitation strategies for patients. In order to implement technology in these aforementioned sectors, a new relevant educational programme needs to be developed that educates students so they become future-proof physiotherapists with both competencies in regard to physiotherapy and medical engineering. The main objective of this project is to educate a new type of physiotherapist that combines competencies in regard to prevention, vitality and rehabilitation in primary care (physiotherapy) with competencies in medical engineering, ICT and technology on the other hand. In order to reach this main objective, three Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will combine their expertise, experience and efforts to develop four different educational modules. Three educational modules each focusing on a different aspect of the future challenges in order to prepare students for their future labour market. These educational modules consist of two modules on musculoskeletal imaging combined with artificial intelligence, one module on human technology interaction (ICT) and one Dragons' Den module to learn to think and act as an entrepreneur and to be challenged by request of clients and patients and present these solutions to investors and companies. For this Dragon’s Den an European platform will be initiated where clients/ patients/ clinicians and companies/ investors meet. The project will deliver three project results that will help educate a new type of physiotherapists that combines technological knowledge with clinical reasoning in prevention and rehabilitation. These four modules are: PR1: 'Musculoskeletal imaging, analysis and model building in clinical reasoning’ PR2: 'Analytics of Information and Human Technology Interaction' PR3: 'Dragons’ Den as form of Challenge Based learning'.
More information: https://researchportal.vub.be/en/projects/erasmus-ka2-competencies-by-health-technology-education-in-preven
Funding: Erasmus+ KA2
RERE PIs involved: Prof. David Beckwée & Prof. Eva Swinnen