By Joie N. Marhefka, Ph.D.
The future is … here? Over the past few years, Penn State New Kensington, where I teach, has been working to prepare our students for careers in the future. We have placed a focus on future-ready skills, including an entrepreneurial mindset and technologies related to Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is a term used to describe the fourth industrial revolution, or the digital transformation of manufacturing.
Industry 4.0 technologies include automation, cloud computing, robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, Internet of things (IoT), additive manufacturing (3D printing), cybersecurity, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). In addition to technology fluency, future ready skills include human conscious citizenship and an entrepreneurial mindset. Many of the technologies associated with Industry 4.0 and future ready skills are applicable in fields outside of manufacturing, including healthcare technology management (HTM). Therefore, we are working to make sure that students have these skills and are familiar with these technologies by the time they graduate and are ready to start a career in their chosen field. Our campus recently opened The Corner, an entrepreneurial center that provides support and programming to those looking to start a business or develop entrepreneurial skills, and the Digital Foundry, which offers access to digital technologies as well as workforce training. The faculty is working to include a more future-ready focus, including highlighting digital technologies, in the curriculum of all majors, including biomedical engineering technology.
I recently attended the 2022 AAMI eXchange conference. As I was attending presentations and walking around the exhibit hall, I couldn’t help but notice the presence of many of these Industry 4.0 technologies in HTM.
VR and AR seemed to be everywhere at the conference and currently have some applications in training for medical device operation and servicing. I anticipate this to become more common in the future. Several presentations and demonstrations at the conference focused on different uses of VR and AR. In my classes this past year, I had the students use VR viewers to watch 360-degree videos that I had recorded in various work locations. This gave them a chance to see equipment and experience situations that we aren’t able to replicate on campus. Moving forward, I believe that VR and AR will provide students opportunities to interact with equipment that we aren’t able to have on campus and to learn to work with devices without the fear of breaking them.
IoT and cybersecurity are two other Industry 4.0 technologies that were highlighted at the conference and are applicable throughout the medical device field. Medical IoT involves interconnected “things,” such as devices, monitors and sensors, that share data through the Internet. Today, this involves devices within and outside of the hospital, as telehealth becomes more common. Managing medical IoT and addressing cybersecurity issues that come with interconnectivity were the focus of many presentations and vendor technologies at the conference. It is certainly important for students to be familiar with these challenges and associated technologies as they will be essential skills in their future careers.
The entrepreneurial mindset was also on full display during the AAMI Gator Tank, where several contestants pitched innovative ideas. The importance of an entrepreneurial mindset – which includes creativity, flexibility and problem-solving – extends beyond those trying to start companies or commercialize innovations. This mindset is beneficial in any type of career, including one in HTM, so we aim to help our students to develop entrepreneurial skills, which will prepare them well for their future careers. In my classes, I plan to have my students participate in an innovation challenge to complement the problem-solving focus that is already such a large component of these classes.
Other conference presentations discussed Industry 4.0 technologies such as 3D printing, robotics and artificial intelligence and their applications in HTM. These are additional technologies that will be integrated into jobs in the future. I will strive to make sure that my students are familiar with them upon graduation.
Seeing all of these technologies and skills on display at the AAMI eXchange reinforced my belief that, not only are they essential for HTM careers in the future, but that they are already impacting the HTM field in big ways. I’m glad that our school is embracing Industry 4.0 and future-readiness and will do my part to best prepare our students for the HTM careers of the future – a future which, in some ways, is already here.
– Joie N. Marhefka, Ph.D., is the biomedical engineering technology program coordinator at Penn State New Kensington.
