Video Recap

Posted on May 12, 2016

For this blog post, I want to focus on the videos that were presented for our final project and the thoughts that I had about these. Overall, I thought that the videos were a very useful tool in presenting our journey throughout this semester with all of the different iterations and steps that were taken. I think that it allowed us to be more creative than a typical PowerPoint presentation. Additionally, coupled with the vague video rubric, it allowed for a large amount of variance in the approaches that were taken by different groups. In terms of my own group’s performance, I thought we did well and were really able to convey our story from the semester. Looking back, I think that a recorded interview from Dr. Lunsford definitely would have strengthened his quote rather than just the typed out quote. I also would have liked to have a more representative video of our prototype being used. I think this would have given the viewer a better representation of the device and its exact functions. For the cad portion of the video, I thought that we did a good job keeping the viewer engaged. I was initially worried about losing the viewer’s attention as the description went on, but by adding in some moving text as the voice over continued, I think the viewer was able to follow along with what we were saying and stay engaged. Some of the other videos also had some components that I liked a lot. One group had several videos playing at once as they described a list of things, I thought this was a good approach to this as the viewer could very easily follow along as it provided a very good visual. Personally, I think that I benefitted greatly from this experience. I have always wanted to learn how to use iMovie, and this project forced me to teach myself this software and the many different tricks that accompany it. Something that I really took away from this was the importance of the small details. Just by adding in some subtle details, I think the quality of our video was greatly improved. The background music that we played was useful in providing some ambient noise so it was not just a voice over the entire time. Also, just adding in small transitions between the videos makes a large difference. These make the video progress smoother and add to the overall quality. In conclusion, I think that this project was very beneficial and was a novel approach to presenting that amount of information that comes out of a semester long project.

Shifting Focus

Posted on April 19, 2016

As the clinical design process has continued, I have quickly realized the importance of doing your due diligence with the research. My group originally recognized a need while we were in the clinic of physicians not being able to proactively monitor the fit of braces in cerebral palsy patients. We figured that because the process for obtaining a new brace took so long, it would be very beneficial for the patient to know that their current brace no longer fit properly before it became a bothersome issue. After meeting with several physicians and physical therapists, it was realized that this issue was not as prominent as we previously anticipated. The doctor noted that often times the patient does not even realize that they had outgrown the brace and the determining factor for needing a new one was often times just determined through a visual eye test. Changing this would require a large systematic change where the replacement would have to be so much better and still cost effective for it to be implemented.

With this knowledge, my group has decided to shift focus towards monitoring patient compliance. The people that we have talked to suggest that this is often an issue in the clinic as the only parameter for measuring if the brace is being worn is the word of the patient/family. This issue can have serious consequences as the purpose of bracing is often to prolong surgery. After putting ourselves in the perspective of the patient, their family, and the healthcare professionals who treat them, I have realized the importance of gaining empathy in determining a truly good need statement.

Andrew and Jay’s PHP Findings

Posted on February 19, 2016

PHP 1st Blog Post

To begin the PHP, Jay and I conducted extensive interviews with one another in an effort to gain a better understanding of each other’s health goals. This interview allowed each of us to really understand each other’s progression over time and how each of us arrived at the goal that we currently wanted to achieve.

Andrew’s Findings

1. Immediately, Jay made it clear to me that his main goal was sleeping, and I wanted to find a way to track quantifiable data to help Jay get a longer and more restful night of sleep each night. To me, it seemed as if the amount of quantifiable data that I could track for this was limited, so from the start I had him record time asleep, time awake, and total hours per night while also keeping track of caffeine, stress, physical activity, and alcohol intake. Jay has done pretty well with meeting his goals as he continues to meet the nightly sleep minimum and was only a few minutes shorts of his weekly average goal.
2. For myself, I noticed that just having some structure in my day led me to want to carry out the tasks I was supposed to because I had a set time in which to do them. Knowing that I needed to do pushups and planks every night before I fell asleep has really put me into a habit that I am now routinely following.
3. Looking forward, I am interested in exploring other factors that may affect Jay’s sleeping habits. For instance, further exploration could be done on the quality of his sleep and how he spends the first 30 minutes of every day to see how that affects his day. Furthermore, Jay is also interested in getting into a more structured workout schedule throughout the week. Once we are able to track both exercise and sleep, we will hopefully be able to draw correlations between the two to gain a better understanding of how the two relate.

Jay’s Findings

1. Discipline is a habit in and of itself. Like all habits, they are difficult to start and even harder to continue. Andrew’s health goal was neither immediately time consuming nor exhausting, but building up the kind of strength he wanted had to be of his own desire. Luckily, our data demonstrates that Andrew has/had the discipline to carry out and continue his goal to this day. He has already increased the number of push ups he can do by 15 in the past 2 weeks. I would like to see if he can use this discipline for his cardio PHP for the next couple of weeks, especially when the running route we planned for him is 3.1 miles.
2. As for myself, the PHP hit me right when my sleep schedule was starting to go off kilter due to NROTC responsibilities (and punishments) on top of a normalized workload. However, this project did encourage me to go to bed before 1am to maintain that minimum hour sleep schedule. One of the things I would like to see is if we can quantify my stressful days and see what my definition of stressful is; maybe that can apply to Andrew’s PHP as well.
3. On a bigger scope, this makes me wonder, as a biomedical or rehabilitation engineer, how to instill that same kind of discipline across multiple patients, ranging from an 8 y/o boy with ADHD to a 48 y/o woman who works 2 jobs to support herself and her family. They will have the desire, no doubt, but whether or not they will participate in the long run is questionable and one of the most difficult challenges for us as engineers.

Andrew’s First Post

Posted on January 26, 2016

Hello everyone! My name is Andrew Portell and I am a third-year BME from Midlothian, VA, a suburb of Richmond. At UVA, I am currently involved in the Dr. Christ’s research lab, and also recently started working for a biotech startup, called Contraline, that was founded by a recent UVA nanomedicine engineering grad.

Over the past summer, I spent time with several pediatric orthopaedic surgeons which really piqued my interest in translational research and the relationship that biomedical engineers have with clinical physicians. I am excited to learn about the entire design process from problem identification to prototype creation. It is my goal to improve on my CAD abilities in this class while also improving the lives of patients through the human centered design process.