Participants Inholland Honors Program working on 'green' Medical Delta topics

Solving problems that 'humanity' encounters with the help of nature and its natural processes. It was with this approach that Inholland students started the second part of the Honors program. Medical Delta is one of the parties that has given the practical assignments.

By tackling current challenges in the professional field in a multidisciplinary way, the participating students develop their competencies, cooperation, personal leadership, and entrepreneurship. Medical Delta submitted two assignments about sustainable healthcare.

Contrast agent in surface water

It struck gynecologists at the LUMC that the use of 'echo gel' for many ultrasounds causes a lot of waste. Not only are the packages disposable bottles but they can rarely be squeezed completely empty. A similar challenge exists for contrast media used in radiology for MRI or CT scans. This contrast agent is only used once and also ends up in the (surface) water via urine.

At the kick-off of the Honors program, the students explored six such issues to discover which one appeals to them the most. Rosa van den Berg, innovation manager at Medical Delta, introduced the assignments for the ultrasound gel and the contrast fluid. After presenting the assignments, she shuttles between student groups to provide further information and answer questions. "These seem like 'small' questions, but they are issues that really play a role in healthcare," she says. “Something needs to be done to improve the sustainability of healthcare and the planet. We have so much intellectual capital in this region, including at universities and colleges such as here at Inholland. I am very happy that we can use that by working together on this practical research.”

Interdisciplinary design

One of the strengths of the Honors program is what Van den Berg calls interdisciplinary design. A large group of students participates in this program, from programs in the fields of Agri, Food & Life Sciences and Technology, Design, and Computer Science. Van den Berg: “The need for an interdisciplinary approach already started with the search for 'the question behind the question'. We were asked to make a different design for the ultrasound gel bottles, with less packaging material. That is very specific, while the real solution may lie elsewhere. An engineer then asks: why do you actually need gel? Can we come up with an alternative to that? Another example: when a comparable interdisciplinary educational program was introduced, students in the operating room were allowed to open the packaging of products that had expired. Otherwise, they will be thrown away. One of the students asked the sharp question: 'Why is it actually past the date?'. While in healthcare that is something 'that we always do'. By looking from a different perspective, you arrive at different insights, that really work.”

The students work in groups on the assignments of Medical Delta. Among other things, they visit the 'client' in the hospital and regularly receive lectures on sustainability and design using biomimicry. With that knowledge and their own insights, they will come up with a proposal as a group at the end of June. “I hope they come up with some out-of-the-box thinking that we can build on,” says Van den Berg.

Please read the comprehensive article on Inholland's website (Dutch)

Read more about Medical Delta's research on sustainable healthcare