Teaching Interdisciplinary Human Centred Design to Improve Patient Quality of Life Erasmus Project

Project Title

Teaching Interdisciplinary Human Centred Design to Improve Patient Quality of Life

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Open and distance learning; Research and innovation; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

The project is unique in that the student learners are exposed to a real world health issue that requires solutions for Coeliac patient management and therefore have to apply an iterative critical thinking approach that requires a large knowledge base which can be accessed by the transnational interdisciplinary skill set of the partners. There is much to be learned by sharing different approaches between different organisations and different cultures to address an authentic global societal need that we have the potential to positively impact.

The objectives of the study are :
Objective 1 (O1) Design a system that monitors and educates clinicians and end users i.e. patients with Coeliac disease to manage their condition independently through a multinational human centred approach involving third level staff and students across Europe (4 european countries will form the partnership i.e. Spain, Ireland, Austria and the Netherlands- each country will be represented by a HEIs and health affiliates in Spain and Ireland).
Objective 2 Learners will explore, investigate and analyse the current perceptions and beliefs of the target task participants i.e. both patients and health care workers, on current practices of management for this cohort, this knowledge base will create a platform that will direct, inform and guide the iterative design process.

This Human Centred Design (HCD) project will incorporate two distinct groups of learners :
i) A transnational interdisciplinary group of third levels learners and
ii) A target cohort of teenage coeliac patients from two EU countries
The project is unique in that the student learners are exposed to a real world health issue that requires solutions for Coeliac patient management and therefore have to apply an iterative critical thinking approach that requires a large knowledge base which can be accessed by the transnational interdisciplinary skill set of the partners.
Activities will incorporate seven transnational interdisciplinary meetings, with each partner hosting at least one of the events, representative faculty and learners from all the participating HEIs and health affiliates will be present to address the respective stages of the iterative design process. Interdisciplinary learner groups will be formed at these meetings with task assignment and learning outcomes implemented and addressed.
Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be employed to achieve the learning outcomes

Impact on the participating organisations and partners include establishment of mutually beneficial links that will be forged between health institutions and the transnational academic partners producing a framework for further initiatives for teaching and learning that will have an impact at regional, national and European level.

It is hoped that this project will demonstrate results that lead to commercial interest to further develop the resulting system and bring it to market, and so impact the quality of life of the millions of people suffering from CD.

Moreover, it is hoped that some of the undergraduates and master students who undertake this project, through exploring this contemporary research problem, will develop their research skills and decide to become researchers.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 222578 Eur

Project Coordinator

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CARLOW & Country: IE

Project Partners

• Paediatric Gastroenterology Unit Saint Luke´s General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny
• FACHHOCHSCHULE VORARLBERG GMBH
• Fundacion IHP
• UNIVERSIDAD DE SEVILLA
• STICHTING HOGESCHOOL VAN AMSTERDAM