Talk on Healthcare Design

Front row: Dr Loo (seven from left), Dr Ng (eighth from left) and Dr Kwan (eighth from right) with the students

The Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Department of Mechatronics and BioMedical Engineering (DMBE), Centre for Healthcare Science and Technology and Engineering in Medicine and Biology Student Chapter jointly organised a public lecture titled, “Healthcare by Design: Creating Products and Service that Work” at Sungai Long Campus on 19 July 2018.

Present at the lecture were DMBE Head Dr Kwan Ban Hoe, lecturer Dr Loo Joo Ling, students and staff. Speaking at the event were Institute for Medical Research Malaysia Senior Medical Officer Dr Ng Xun Jin.  

The talk aimed to provide students with the idea of design thinking; to create products of what doctor and patients need, to learn to talk to the users and patients and to learn whether the technology is feasible, while helping students to develop a framework of patterns, mechanics and physics of work and life. In the talk, Dr Ng spoke about the framework of the healthcare work processes, the philosophy of healthcare, design thinking and the concepts of ‘Tamponade’. “There are three areas to examine when you look into design thinking; they are feasibility, desirability and viability. The process that goes into design thinking involves emphatise, product definition, idea, prototype and test,” said Dr Ng.

“In healthcare, we need to consider the physiological and psychological needs of the patient. We have to take care of the peripheral view of the product. We need to learn to talk to the patients and users to find out what they want and learn to use your core knowledge to know whether the idea is feasible or not. Remember that what you choose in the beginning affects the outcome of the product,” said Dr Ng.      

Dr Ng said, “The goal here today is to help all of you to develop a framework and a thought process to look for patterns on why things happen and how some basic principles of mechanics and physics which will be used for a long time to work in life. We will start with the idea of design thinking and later we will delve into creating products that both patients and doctors want.”

Dr Ng obtained his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Volgograd State Medical University, Russia and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Lancaster University, United Kingdom. Dr Ng received the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from the Ministry of Education on a Medical Data Science Project through a partnership with the Asia Pacific University. Dr Ng partnered with various social organisations to provide medical aid via mobile clinics in underdeveloped regions in Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

Dr Kwan (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Dr Ng