| Unit name | Digital Health Project |
|---|---|
| Unit code | EENGM0035 |
| Credit points | 60 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Brigden |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
People and Systems in Healthcare (EENGM0019) |
| Co-requisites |
Responsible Innovation and Research Methods in Digital Health (EENGM0023), Data Analytics and Modelling in Health (EMATM0046). |
| School/department | School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
Students will be assigned to multidisciplinary groups of 4-6 students. Each group follows the same structured project which leads them through a process of product development, including open-ended research challenges requiring an original contribution to knowledge. The theme of the project will be a long term health condition, such as diabetes or asthma.
The groups are facilitated by trained HPTs and have a quantity of specialist academic, NHS and industry consultant time which they can access. It is up to the students to work out the best use of that time.
Each student will have the opportunity to exercise creativity and problem-solving in their own disciplinary area, as their contribution to the group. The final mark is individual but includes a component based on group performance.
The project includes workshops on teamwork, reflection on individual/team performance and includes mentoring/observation of team members by the team members themselves.
The project is structured into 8 stages. The group submits deliverables one week after the end of each stage (late submission penalised according to the Faculty’s normal rules). The collated deliverables will form the group’s dissertation (see Assessment Details for more information).
Stage 0: Preparatory Stage (Feb-March) Through self-reflection, roleplay and advised by internal and external experts through seminars and workshops, students will learn how to be a better team player; how to mentor and manage team members; how to plan a project.
Stage 1: Market Research (March-April) Students will draw on their knowledge of global healthcare systems to create a business case for a digital health product in a specific area of clinical need. They will present evidence within the business case based on peer-reviewed literature and policy documents from the NHS and relevant medical charities. They will consider the business model and the route to market.
Stage 2: Public Patient Involvement (after exams) Students will plan and run a workshop with NHS patients to co-design a solution to a real health need. Students will analyse qualitative outputs from the workshop.
Stage 3: Evaluation Design (early July - early Aug) Students will use their knowledge of clinical practice and of statistics to design a clinical trial for a digital health product.
Stage 4: Quantitative Data Analysis (early August – end August) Students will analyse and visualise quantitative data from a “trial”* of their product using statistics and machine learning. (*The data analysed will be a synthetic dataset constructed specifically for this project, derived from a processed and anonymised set of real patient data).
Stage 5: Regulatory Submission (early September) Students will present analysed data in the form of a report to a regulator to show that the product is safe, effective and compliant with the law.
Stage 6: Post Market (mid September) Students will be faced with a serious and unexpected issue that has arisen with their product whilst on sale, related to its safety or efficacy. Details will be released to the students only at the start of this stage and the scenario may evolve over the course of the week. Students will need to devise a response in real time to the issue comprising a press release (included in the dissertation) and a recorded video statement for the media and affected patients.
Stage 7: Reflecting on Process and Lessons Learned (late September, 1 week) Students will describe their observations of their team, consider some of the problems and conflicts that may have arisen, and reflect on how those issues were mitigated.
Broadly the aims are to develop team players, to put into practice the concepts of responsible innovation they’ve been taught in relation to a “product” and to undertake an original and open ended research study.
Upon successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
Specific seminars and workshops will be provided in the early stages of the project to provide students with practical skills around the challenges of teamwork, agreeing expectations for the team members and introducing simple tools for project planning.
One early seminar will present the idea of peer assessment in relation to this unit. The students will conduct a formative (i.e. non credit bearing) peer assessment twice during the course of the project, where they give and receive feedback to each other.
Students will meet regularly as groups, with at least two scheduled sessions per week involving a trained facilitator. The facilitator will note the level of individual engagement in the meetings and this will feed into the marks as described above.
The students will also be given a seminar on presentation technique in order to prepare them for the presentation element.
Group Mark: The dissertation comprises the 7 submitted deliverables (averaging 3000 words each, leading to a dissertation of approximately 45pp, plus references) from each Stage of the project (ILOs 1-5) plus the assessment of the video statement from Stage 6 (ILO 4, 5).
10 minute individual presentation describing their own contribution to the project, including both contributions to deliverables and contributions as mentors/team players (ILOs 1-7).
Each student will receive an individual mark based on:
90% Group Dissertation mark (weighted by 25% engagement mark from facilitator’s observations of team sessions and 25% by a peer-assessment mark – therefore no student can get less than 50% of the Group mark) + 10% Individual presentation.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EENGM0035).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
