• Question: Have you had any direct interactions with patients in need of what you are working on? How did the encounter make you feel?

    Asked by 10jlam to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      Yes . I have an honorary NHS contract and work closely with patients and practitioners – they inform most of my work. How it makes me feel depends on the type of case. For facial prosthesis cases, you get time to chat to the person, which let you overcome the initial shock that part of their face is missing. They’re typically people who’ve undergone surgical procedures and treatment for disease. It’s nice to meet them since in most of the cases I’ve been involved with, they like to chat. I also learn a lot, so it’s valuable. I don’t often see those who I’ve been in the operating with.

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      I haven’t as my work doesn’t work with patients. Usually, the doctor will be the one in direct interaction with patients and they know very well what those patients need.

      Then the doctors work with us engineers on projects to come up with a solution that will improve the patients needs.

    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      So far, most of my interactions have mainly been with the doctors rather than the patients. All of the doctors have been very good at explaining the problems that patients face. In the operations that I have witnessed the patients have been asleep. Visiting the operating theatre really makes me aware of how high the standards are to which I must work. Any mistakes will make the surgeon’s job harder and may have a bad impact on the patient. It is also very motivating though.

      I have met plenty of individuals with long-standing medical complaints. Sometimes they have to discuss very personal problems. I always feel that they are very brave indeed and also I feel very lucky that I don’t have to deal with what they are putting up with. Again, these conversations are inspiring to provide solutions and really to try and make the lives of people living with the complaints better. It is not like designing luxury goods, I feel like what I do can really help improve the quality of people’s lives. This comes from talking to doctors and patients directly.

    • Photo: Maedeh Borhani

      Maedeh Borhani answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I have had a lot of interactions with patients. I enjoy being able to help them. Most of the time I visit them in our lab in the hospital and I collect data from them. It feels great when I can help them with my research.

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