HETEK4000 Interactions in Health and Technology Course description

International and national health and welfare schemes emphasise technology as an important focus area, often seen in light of future demographic challenges involving an increasing number of old people and new user groups. New technology is employed in the health sector on an ongoing basis. The term technology is wide and can include everything from machines, automation and artificial intelligence to digital platforms for user/patient communication and Smart House technology. Rapid technological developments in the health sector require better and new types of interaction between different stakeholders to promote better and more efficient health services.

The course introduces key concepts relating to technological development, system design and service innovation. Key public and private stakeholders include the higher education sector, the specialist health service, the municipal health service, business and industry, and user and special interest organisations. Students will explore how new technology can contribute to sustainable solutions in health and care services and in research and development work, but must also be able to reflect on ethical challenges that arise when new technology is adopted. At the intersection between health and technology, there are opportunities for different forms of co-creation between stakeholders based on user needs, and different specialised disciplines can contribute to better health through service design and innovation. Interdisciplinary collaboration competence in the development and implementation of new technology in the health and social services is emphasised.

Students must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health and Technology.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can account for key concepts relating to technological development, system design and service innovation
• has knowledge of different stakeholders and their role in the health service
• can describe suitable professional tools for identifying user needs and assessing their functional level
• can account for the importance of and describe procedures for user-oriented design thinking
• can describe important factors that promote or hinder the implementation of technology and successful interaction in practice
• is familiar with technological solutions used in health promotion and re/habilitation work

Skills

The student

• can assess some established and new relevant methods in research and creative development work in health and technology
• can discuss how research and innovation relating to health and technology can be designed based on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)
• can reflect on ethical issues relating to cases from a health and technology perspective
• can disseminate independent work using appropriate forms of expression in the field
• can take part in discussions and popular science dissemination about research and their own practice
• can, with the use of future scenarios, discuss likely expectations in their own field both nationally and internationally
• can identify relevant legislation and standards

General competence

The student

• can reflect on and integrate their own professional background, identity and competence in an interdisciplinary context
• can reflect on and identify opportunities for innovation processes in their own field and propose new sustainable solutions, working methods, service or product-based innovation projects with the help of user orientation, system design and critical thinking
• has a conscious attitude to exploring and adapting their own practice to new technologies
• can use a suitable conceptual framework that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and contribute to interdisciplinary teamwork

The work and teaching methods used will be case-focused and include group work with practical exercises and thematic lectures involving contributions from practitioners in the municipal and specialist health services, business and industry and other special interest organisation.

Efforts will be made to ensure that the cases used reflect how interdisciplinary collaboration will take place in the workplace. The case studies will be based on different user needs. This orientation to systems, services and processes provides an approach to the many zones of interaction between health and technology.

Students will work in groups of 5-7 students. After an initial theoretical introduction and user orientation, the students will prepare proposals for a case based on an overall common issue at the intersection between health and technology. Depending on the case, efforts will be made to link the group to external stakeholders they can have a dialogue with during the course. Activities will vary between theory review and practical group work.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• Oral presentation in groups of 5-7 students, up to 30 minutes. The group will present their own health and technology project, and the form of presentation chosen depends on the project. Issues arising along the way must be described. The presentation must be given in English if there are English-speaking students on the course.

Project exam in groups of 5-7 students in the form of a written assignment submitted by the same group as under the coursework requirement. The assignment is prepared during the course period, with a scope of up to 5,000 words. The paper can be written in English or a Scandinavian language.

Resit exam: If the written assignment is given an F (Fail), the group will be given one (1) opportunity to submit a reworked version.

All aids are permitted as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F

All papers will be assessed by two examiners, one of whom must be external.

None.