Course syllabus for Digital health implementation

Course syllabus adopted 2024-12-19 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameImplementering av digital hälsa
  • CodeTRA460
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTRACKS
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • DepartmentTRACKS
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 97183
  • Minimum participants8
  • Open for exchange studentsYes

Credit distribution

0125 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		 7.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

In addition to the general requirements to study at Master's level (second cycle) at Chalmers, necessary subject or project specific prerequisite competences (if any) must be fulfilled. Alternatively, the student must obtain the necessary competences during the course. The examiner will formulate and check these prerequisite competences. The student will only be admitted in agreement with the examiner.

Good programing skills, for example in Python, with some familiarity in Swift and/or SwiftUI being a plus. An interest or experience in digital health and relevant standards, such as HL7 and FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources) is encouraged but not mandatory; Alternatively, a good professional experience of a clinical environment.

Aim

The course provides a platform to work and solve challenging cross-disciplinary authentic problems from different stakeholders in society such as the academy, industry or public institutions. Additionally, the aim is that students from different educational programs practice working efficiently in multidisciplinary development teams

To learn how to design and build secure and interoperable digital solutions to address unmet needs in the healthcare sector. To practice in pinpointing a clinical need, including identifying target patient groups and users within healthcare professionals, and design an effective solution that can bring clinical benefits. Furthermore, to get experience in working in multidisciplinary groups across the engineering-health care gap and to get familiarity with some specific platforms and open-source frameworks such as: iOS, Swift, FHIR, Stanford Spezi, etc. The course is given in collaboration with the Digital Health group at Biodesign at Stanford.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • critically and creatively identify and/or formulate advanced architectural or engineering problems
  • lead and participate in the development of new products, processes and systems using a holistic approach by following a design process and/or a systematic development process
  • work in multidisciplinary teams and collaborate in teams with different compositions
  • identify ethical aspects and discuss and judge their consequences in relation to the specific problem
  • Identify clinical needs and design effective digital health solutions
  • Develop mobile applications for iOS and watchOS
  • Collaborate with open-source platforms, such as GitHub
  • Utilize Stanford Spezi for digital health applications
  • Implement machine learning models locally on devices to ensure privacy and security
  • Apply patient-centric AI to drive digital health innovations and use HealthKit, including CoreMotion, for health data integration
  • Work with modern digital health standards, such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)

Content

The course will consist of an introduction to the digital healthcare field in general and some specific needs in particular. There will be weekly introductions of useful tools and strategic discussions in lecture form given by various lecturers. However, the main part of the work will be done in your groups.

Organisation

The course is run by a teaching team with complementary competences in digital health, engineering and medicine.
The main part of the course is a challenge-driven project. The challenge may range from being broad societal to profound research driven. The project task is solved in a group. The course is supplemented by supervision and learning of the skills necessary for the project. The project team will have one university examiner, one or a pool of university supervisors and one or a pool of external co-supervisors if applicable.

There will be a number of health care needs already identified at the start of the course where each group, consisting of approximately five students, will get one need to tackle using digital tools, i.e. Stanford Spezi.

We will have two pools of lecturers/coaches. One from Chalmers and the other from Sahlgrenska University Hospital. There will be lectures supporting the project and learning, where you are required to attend in person. No hybrid solutions will be provided. In addition to that, you will meet with your project teams at times and locations you arrange yourself in the groups.

The course will be kicked off by introductory talks from the Stanford Digital Health Group under the lead of Dr Oliver Aalami. That team will also be supporting the rest of the course period from Stanford.

Literature

With input from the teaching team via Canvas and GitHub, students will develop the ability to identify and acquire relevant literature and information throughout their projects.

Examination including compulsory elements

  • given the initial healthcare challenge your team will work with, generate quality improving questions and suggestions to the stakeholder
  • interact constructively with all members in the team
  • design and construct a working digital health app
  • present your workflow, pivotal decisions, and your final digital solution, in a clear and convincing manner, to a panel of digital health experts

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.