MSc Digital Healthcare
James Harte Assist. Prof. of Biomedical Engineering and MSc coordinator
Institute of Digital Healthcare, WMG
University of Warwick
The application of appropriate technologies for the promotion of health, prevention & management of disease or delivery of health services; developing enhanced healthcare provision and promoting wellness.
Digital healthcare a definition…
Clinical case study
Lives alone, no relatives living
nearby
History of hypertension/high
blood pressure
Overweight with some
mobility problems
Case study – medical history
Mr Ben Müller, age 77
Smart environments for
independent living
Smart environments for independent living
The Wrist Wearable Unit android based wrist worn mobile phone
The Wrist Wearable Unit android based wrist worn mobile phone
Tri-axis accelerometry; GPS; Camera
ADL; Falls; Messaging; HR
Part of a wider system so can perform
communications and messaging function
Outdoors – GPS for geofencing/ activity
Data automatically
transmitted to emergency
department
Resuscitation unit alerted
Emergency department
Diagnosis agreed on with
remote specialists
Cerebrovascular accident
Rapid loss of brain function
due to disturbance in blood
supply
Transfer to hyper-acute
stroke unit
Normally administered
thrombolysis to break up the
blood clot
Ischemic stroke clinical diagnosis
Physiological/vital signs
• Extremely high blood pressure
• Risk of excessive bleeding
Electronic health record
• Current prescribed medication
• Medical history
• Hypertension
Drug database
• Risk of adverse interaction effect
Portable vital sign sensors
Automatic alerts
Discharge &
rehabilitation
Mr Müller
Physiotherapy
Occupational health
Social services
Community nurse
GP
Stroke unit
Remote cognitive and physical rehabilitation
programme
Progress monitored and reviewed remotely
Research & variational analysis of
patient journey
All data regarding Mr Müller’s stroke is
logged
Database compiled on 100s/1000s of
patient experiences
Improvements to care pathway
University of Warwick why study with us?
Top UK university for teaching and
research (ranked 5th in UK by Guardian 2012)
Strong international reputation (Top 50
World University, QS rankings)
Vibrant international student community (120 nationalities; 33% of student body is International)
Award winning campus and facilities
Outstanding reputation with employers (1st in UK for employability according to High Flyers Survey
2013; Joint 4th in world for employability, QS rankings)
WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) who are we?
Largest academic department in the Faculty of Science, University of
Warwick
Established in 1980 to bridge the gap between industry and academia
One of the world’s leading research groups using applied cutting edge
research and effective knowledge transfer to work collaboratively with
hundreds of industrial partners
High research content in the Masters course enables students to develop
expertise in their field of interest (dissertation topic)
The Institute of Digital Healthcare
A world-class £4M 5-year
funded partnership between
the NHS, WMG, WMS and
other organisations
who are we?
MSc in Digital Healthcare course structure
Full MSc awarded for successful completion of 10 x 1-week
long modules (assessed by PMA) + Research project (50%)
– MSc Digital Healthcare
– MSc Digital Healthcare (engineering)
– MSc Digital Healthcare (clinical) [2014 start]
Both full-time (1 year) and part-time (3 years) registration
available
Also offering PgCert (6 modules) & PgAward (3 modules)
Engineering + physical scientists
Clinicians + allied health professionals
Inter-disciplinary team-based learning
Core modules
• Intro. Biomedical engineering
• Intro. Medical informatics
• Research methods
• Contemporary topics in digital healthcare
• Going beyond lean: Healthcare delivery system models
Elective modules (Oct. 2013)
• Leadership
• Management of change
• Organisations, people and performance
• Project planning, management and control
• Service design and delivery
Engineering focus (Oct. 2013)
• MATLAB programming for signal analysis
• Biomedical signal processing for digital healthcare
• Computational intelligence techniques for biomedical signals
Clinical focus (expected 2014)
• Exploring & improving public understanding of health and disease
• Clinical knowledge & decision support
• T.B.C
Employment opportunities
Product & service development – Point of care telehealth/telecare solutions
– Patient management programmes
– Monitoring technologies (i.e. wrist-worn activity monitors; mobile app
development)
– Rehabilitation technologies (i.e. Hearing aids/cochlear implants)
Public/private healthcare providers – Commissioning of technology/services (i.e. rehabilitation, telecare,)
– Service evaluation/improvement
– Primary/secondary care professionals