BME1520H Applications of Universal Design for Preventing Injury and Illness

Streams

Clinical Engineering

Sessions

Winter

Description

WHY THIS COURSE MATTERS

Many of us suffer from injuries or illnesses that are largely preventable through improvements in the design of our environments. In some cases, our lives will be turned upside down suddenly, as in the case of an individual sustaining a concussion following a fall resulting from a slip in icy weather or a trip on an uneven sidewalk. Similarly, we may become thrown into the role of an unpaid caregiver when someone we care about comes home after surviving a stroke and a slew of new challenging tasks must be managed. For those of us that have a disability, inactivity resulting from the poor accessibility of our environment can spark a slower but steady downward spiral in health. Other examples of preventable conditions include pressure injuries for individuals with poor mobility and musculoskeletal disorders experienced by caregivers (paid or unpaid) who often have to perform heavy patient handling tasks while adopting awkward postures. Nearly all of us will either be affected by experiences like these directly or through someone we care about.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

This graduate level course will provide in-depth coverage on the state-of-the-art approaches for applying principles of universal design and high reliability organizations to preventing these injuries and illnesses. These principles include topics from the fields of biomechanics, ergonomics, and human factors. In particular, we will focus on the needs of individuals with disabilities and their caregivers, who are likely to experience the greatest negative impacts of injury and illness. You will learn how to prevent injury and illness for yourself, the people you care about and for society.

COURSE DESIGN

The course will consist of a combination of lectures from the instructor and student seminar presentations. The evaluation for the course will be project-based. Students will be asked to develop a preventative approach based on the topics discussed and develop a plan for how it could be implemented and/or evaluated (5-page proposal). Each student will present their proposal in an initial 20-minute oral presentation (in weeks 5 and 6) and a final 20-minute oral presentation followed by class discussion (in weeks 11, 12) on their chosen solution. All students will be asked to provide constructive feedback on their peers’ written and oral communication skills and will be evaluated on the quality of their feedback.

COURSE PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND EXAMPLES

Potential projects may include identifying a preventative approach in the scientific literature that has demonstrated potential on a small scale and developing a plan for scaling up the use of the approach. For example, a new generation of winter footwear that incorporates composite materials in the outsole has been shown to reduce the risk of falls for outdoor workers in the winter by 80%. A student could choose to develop a business case to demonstrate that a company employing many outdoor workers would save money by providing better winter footwear to all staff. Another type of project could look at the design of a device that can support a preventative approach. An example, a student could come up with the design of a device that can be attached to a sidewalk cleaning machine (Madvac) that can detect and log GPS coordinates of trip hazards on the sidewalk so that maintenance personnel can address the hazard. A third type of course project could focus on raising awareness of the importance of a preventative approach for members of the public. For example, many people who suddenly need to spend extended periods in bed because of illness or injury may be unaware that they may be at risk for pressure injuries. A student project could take on the development of a social media campaign to raise awareness for pressure injury prevention.

Prerequisites

None

Components

Lecture

Restrictions

None