Blog: Collaboration between doctor and engineer more important than ever

Nine professors will receive an important recognition for their work on 2 November. On that day, they will be inaugurated as 'Medical Delta Professors'. It is the official confirmation of their double appointment at several universities in South-Holland, and with that, a recognition of the pioneering role they play in connecting different scientific disciplines and institutes on the cutting edge of health and technology.

This interdisciplinary collaboration is the credo of Medical Delta. Now that we are able to inaugurate a group of professors for the third time, we are proud that the cooperation between doctor and engineer is well on its way to becoming commonplace. Interdisciplinary cooperation was special when Medical Delta was founded, but nowadays it is a conditio sine qua non to achieve scientific and technological solutions that make healthcare healthy.

Healthcare is ill...

And that is desperately needed. The sustainability of our healthcare system is under pressure, as the Scientific Council for Government Policy concluded in a recently published report. People are using more and more expensive care. If this continues, in forty years' time it will cost citizens nearly three times as much as it does now - and it will be impossible to afford. And then one in three people will have to work in care, compared to the current one in seven - which seems unrealistic. The feasibility of care is already under pressure due to staff shortages, as DSW managing director Aad de Groot stated this month when the first health care premiums were announced.

The significance of the collaboration between doctor and engineer, but also between scientist/researcher and (healthcare) practitioner is therefore more relevant than ever to be able to effectively change healthcare. Technology plays a crucial role in making our healthcare system sustainable, changing and improving - provided it is used correctly.

Daring - commitment - courage

If technology can successfully change healthcare for the better, depends on the people who have to do it. It takes courage to go beyond the boundaries of your own scientific discipline and it takes commitment to understand someone with a completely different scientific background. It also requires courage to take the question behind the question and the need of the patient or healthcare professional as the starting point of your research. And to involve healthcare practice at a very early stage in the development process of healthcare innovations. Unfortunately, not everyone has reached this point yet.

At the same time, I have noticed that the younger generation of researchers have almost taken it for granted. Cooperation between health sciences and technological sciences is now institutionalized, for example in joint studies such as Clinical Technology. But even at an individual level, I see young scientists in particular seeking out connections with other disciplines of their own accord - as if it had always been that way.

From prototype to practice

It does not stop with science alone: bringing science to healthcare practice, translating findings into innovations and devising new medical methods based on new technological possibilities: as a doctor and scientist, I see this happening around me every day. The social impact of scientific research on the cutting edge of technology and health increases by involving medical scientists, doctors, healthcare professionals and patients in technological developments at an early stage of research.

The need for care changes and technological possibilities develop continuously. We will therefore always need pioneers. People who dare to tread new paths and who see opportunities for cooperation that were previously non-existent.

The Medical Delta professors are therefore more important than ever and will continue to be desperately needed.

By Prof. Dr. Frank Willem Jansen, Chairman Medical Delta

On Tuesday, November 2, nine Medical Delta professors will be officially inaugurated. This festive meeting during the Medical Delta Conference can be attended both physically and online. You can register here.