Electronics are playing an increasingly important role in healthcare

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare. It is no longer unusual for a doctor to check your blood saturation via an electronic patch or for socks to transmit information about your stress level. Electronics offers great medical, practical and financial benefits, but there are also challenges - as became clear during the Medical Electronics event on February 7 in Leusden. Watch the aftermovie below. 

More than two hundred visitors and exhibitors found their way to FHI last Tuesday. It was the first time that the event took place in physical form, but it will certainly not be the last time. The presentation rooms were packed to the brim with audiences and the exhibitors' stands were also busy. The entire chain was represented at the event: from development to production. The reactions afterwards showed that visitors really appreciated this variety.

Better quality of life with wearables

Dr. Natallia Uzunbajakava from TNO Holst Center kicked things off with a technically substantive lecture on wearables. Dutch people are getting older, but on average spend more than half of their lives in poor health. Uzunbajakava explained how wearables can play a role in improving people's lifestyle and health. To illustrate, she had two recently developed by TNO wearables to see. An electronic patch that makes an ultrasound of an area of the body 24 hours a day. And a patch which measures heart rate, heart rate variability, ventilation pattern, blood pressure, SpO2 and core body measures temperature. These are all important 'parameters' that provide an indication of the patient's health.

About smart socks, design mistakes and early involvement

After the opening lecture, the group split into three for the parallel presentations. Three lectures stood out: Luc van Meer from Metafas spoke about smart socks that measure stress. A solution for people who are less mobile or suffer from mental problems and who need 24/7 monitoring in a comfortable way. The lecture by Erick Bockweg from Zign Innovations also attracted attention. Bockweg talked about the great importance of a structured development process of medical electronics that need to be linked. If this process goes well from the start, you will avoid unnecessary costs, wasted time and, above all: frustration. Nico Zeeders and Maria Dullaert also emphasized the great importance of early involvement during the development process of medical electronics. The last thing you want is to design a product that cannot be produced due to design flaws.

Lots of comments

After the break, the afternoon program started with the same parallel sessions as in the morning, but for a new audience. Plenary speaker Erik Gelderblom from RadboudUMC closed the event with a stimulating lecture about the application of medical electronics in hospitals. The examples that Gelderblom provided evoked many reactions from the audience and showed once again how strongly the subject of medical electronics is alive in the sector.

Download the presentations

Were you unable to attend the event? Don't worry, because given the enthusiastic responses and the high turnout, this was certainly not the last time we organize the event. Until then you can enjoy the online presentations. Click on the lecture in the program and the link appears at the bottom of the page.

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