Engineers In Healthcare

I never knew we had a big challenge with the healthcare sector until I had to write a concept note for an innovative process for malaria prevention and cure. It was then I got to understand the needs in the healthcare sector in Nigeria.

On the news, one day, I heard that a medical doctor slumped and died in the church as a result of exhaustion. He has been working non-stop for 72 hours. As a result of the migration of medical doctors and nurses from Nigerian hospitals to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, and the USA, the ratio of patients to medical doctors kept increasing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) standard is a medical doctor to 10,000 patients. It is not so in Nigeria. In the Northern part of the country, there is a medical doctor to 45,000 patients, while in the southern part, it is 35,000 to a medical doctor. This means that medical doctors are both stressed and stretched. A medical doctor, who works in a government hospital, may also be doing rounds in several private clinics and hospitals.

I was also told that patients come to the hospital and may spend the whole day without seeing a medical doctor. Emergency patients are also left unattended to in many cases. The case of the young lady in Abuja who wasn’t attended to in Maitama Hospital, Abuja because there was no police report is a case in point. She died because no one attended to her.

A lot of patients may not have died if they were attended to and stabilized. There are humorous tales of doctors operating on patients and leaving tools in their bodies. Recently, a medical doctor stole the kidney of a patient without her knowledge after he deceived her that he was operating on her appendix.

Crazy Enough to Make A Different

Steve Jobs said that those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are the ones who do. We decided that the need in the healthcare sector can be solved by engineers.

Also, Jim Rohn, a mentor, said “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.” If we do nothing, no one may possibly do anything. Rather than solve problems, people prefer to do either of the two:

1. Blame and complain

2. Japa (migrate out of the country)

We at Engineers Without Borders Nigeria (a not-for-profit) decided to be part of the solution. So we developed the Engineers In Healthcare project. It is our way of bringing our skills and perspective to the healthcare sector. We believe engineers solve problems, design solutions, create value, and innovate.

Engineers should take on any challenge and make life better for humans. That is why we are bringing human-centered design into the center of engineering. Engineers should focus on the people they are creating technologies for rather than the technology itself.

Humanizing Healthcare Delivery

Humans created healthcare systems to serve humans. This means humans have to be at the center of healthcare services. We have to create a healthcare system that serves humans better. It doesn’t just mean the patients, but both the care receiver and the caregiver. It’s a partnership.

Our Engineers In Healthcare project is aimed at creating a synergy and partnership between caregivers and care-receivers. We want to make sure that both the hospital and its team on the one hand and the patients and their families on the other hand are happy. Life, it is said, is the pursuit of happiness. We want to ensure that healthcare systems in Nigeria deliver happiness.

This project aims at:

1. Alleviating human suffering

2. Enhancing human flourishing

3. Fostering great human experience

4. Creating human Fulfillment

When the medical doctor, nurses, patients, and their families are happy, then we have enhanced human flourishing. In order to achieve that, we broke down the healthcare system into different components that are likely affecting the delivery. We are integrating both human-centered design (design thinking) and system thinking into the project.

The project is focused on solving the following challenges:

1. Energy Challenge

2. Waste management challenge

3. Patient experience challenge

4. Medical personnel challenge

We want to create new forms of systems that make it easy for the medical doctor to give care and the patient to receive care. From the success of the pilot, we can then scale.

Building The Capacity of Engineering Students

The major highlight of this project is the involvement of engineering students from more than 20 universities. By getting involved in the project and being mentored and guided, students gain experience and learn skills thereby boosting their employability.

For many years now, employers of labor in Nigeria have been saying that Nigerian University graduates are unemployable. The former coordinating Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, ones confirmed this statement. Instead of accepting this, we decided that we would do something about it.

By getting involved in our projects, students will gain real industry experience solving problems. They will also develop their capacity and capability to function as engineers who create value for their employers. We are raising a new generation of engineers in Nigeria. We want companies to go after those engineers that we are developing.

Our work complements the efforts of the University. There is a limit to what the University can do. We pick students and give them the opportunities to become engineers that the industry needs. Here is how we develop engineers:

1. 200 Level engineering students are trained to be problem solvers

2. 300 level engineering students are trained to be designers

3. 400 level engineering students are trained to be value creators

5. 500 level engineering students are trained to be innovation leaders

Each level gets the chance to apply what they are taught. That is because capacities are only developed through practice. You can get the students to serve as interns in your company. They will bring massive value to you.

Innovation Starts With Curiosity

All progress and value creation starts with asking questions. Here are some of the questions we asked to guide us in this project.

1. What is the ideal waiting time for patients before accessing medical doctors and consultants?

2. What innovative systems can be introduced to enhance the working conditions of medical doctors and nurses?

3. How can emergency patients be stabilized more effectively before reaching the hospital?

4. How can we establish a win-win relationship between the hospital and patients?

5. What engineering and design solutions can be applied to enrich healthcare service delivery and the overall patient experience?

Opportunity To Volunteer

If you are crazy like us, you may want to join us on this project as a volunteer. Here are the areas we need volunteers:

1. Clean Energy System Team

Position: Team Lead-Electrical Engineer

2. Circular Waste Economy Team

Position: Team Lead-Civil Engineer

3. Medical Devices Design Team

Position: Team Lead-Mechanical Engineer

4. Patient Experience Design Team

Position: Team Lead-UX Designer

5. Online Platform Team

Position: Team Lead-Any field of Engineering or computer science

If you want to be part of any of this team, kindly send your CV to [email protected]. Understand that all roles are voluntary. And if you want to donate towards this project, contact us through the email. You can find us at www.ewb.org.ng.

Join Us Change Nigeria and build a better world.

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