
Ask HN: Any good post-grad ideas for an MD wanting to do more tech stuff? - toastednz
Hi, I&#x27;m 34, have basically finished specialty training in anaesthesiology.  I&#x27;m really keen to get into or get experience in either medical devices or medical technology of some sort.  Can anyone recommend any interesting post-graduate study options, or other ideas along these lines?
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kohanz
As an engineer in the medical device industry, I would offer that few people
are in a better position to come up with those ideas than yourself. You have
years of clinical experience, surely you've come across areas of practice that
could be improved by technology or existing technology ripe for enhancement?
Companies I work with pay good money for clinical input towards product
development. If you want to get good input from a technical audience such as
ours, I suggest describing your biggest pain points (no pun intended) in the
profession.

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ljw1001
I would second this advice. To be a little more concrete:

What aspects of your specialty are the most expensive, the most time-
consuming, the most error-prone, and/or the most dangerous?

Alternately, you can look at the delivery systems for improvement. Are there
people who lack access to professionals with the needed skills, equipment, or
supplies? Or who can't access them when they are needed.

I would strongly recommend you take a look at this book if you haven't
already: [https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-
Su...](https://www.amazon.com/Disciplined-Entrepreneurship-Steps-Successful-
Startup/dp/1118692284)

The book is quite awesome and there are two EdX courses that go with it that
I'd also recommend: They are called Entrepreneurship 101 and 102. See:
[https://www.edx.org/course/entrepreneurship-101-who-
customer...](https://www.edx.org/course/entrepreneurship-101-who-customer-
mitx-bootcamp1-0)

Finally, there other online courses (Coursera or EdX) that specifically cover
new product development in the Medical Device space.

~~~
marckemil
Thanks; I'm in a similar situation myself. I'll look into those references.

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cylinder
Are you seriously about to go to school again? Work your job, save money and
perhaps you can invent a device on your own, or invest in one, etc, in your
spare time. Lots of physicians have done so.

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kumarski
[http://www.engineersf.com/2016/04/17/a-list-of-the-
technolog...](http://www.engineersf.com/2016/04/17/a-list-of-the-technology-
companies-that-make-healthcare-it-easier-2/)

I put together a primer on all the new healthcare technologies so you can get
more context on the technologies available.

I'm an advisor to semantic.md. If you want to talk to anybody on our team with
an MD background who works on the tech side of things, would be happy to
arrange that.

I love seeing MDs go in this direction.

Check out [http://www.enzyme.io](http://www.enzyme.io) as well. Kind of a cool
app I spotted a few days ago in the med-device space.

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Malarius
In Austria there is the possibility to study at medical informatics as
Bachelor and Master Degree

You can look for example at the following link:
[https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/studies-further-
educatio...](https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/en/studies-further-
education/application-admission/masters-programme-in-medical-informatics/)

We got here (in Austria) plenty of ways to go in the medical technology area,
as it is possible to attend a technical college for it.

As I dont now what you are looking for, I am not really able to help you.

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tangentcity
Well, here's at least one analogue (meaning a useful model to emulate, from
Mullins and Komisar's "Getting to Plan B"): a friend of mine, also an
anesthesiologist, noticed a pain point and did something about it:
[https://epreop.com/about-epreop/](https://epreop.com/about-epreop/)

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sfifs
Please create a way to draw blood that doesn't involve groping around for a
vein and sticking a big needle in.

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icpmacdo
[https://www.theranos.com/](https://www.theranos.com/) ;)

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Mz
We a need a new term, because vaporware doesn't quite work here.

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btown
Fraud. The word you're looking for is fraud.

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Mz
I run a google group called Health Techies. It is small and not terribly
active (yet). You are more than welcome to join it.

For now, I occasionally post links to discussions like this one on HN and the
occasional article. I worked in insurance for over five years, had annual
HIPAA training, etc.

~~~
shubb
Can you drop a link?

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Mz
I am on a tablet, so I don't know how well this link will work for a desktop:

[https://groups.google.com/forum/?nomobile=true#!forum/health...](https://groups.google.com/forum/?nomobile=true#!forum/health-
techies)

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LaneRendell
Not my area of expertise, but I'm a type 1 diabetic and that area seems ripe
for improvement. Artificial pancreases, automatic glucose monitoring and the
like are an area that is exploding.

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inetsee
This is an area that is definitely ripe for improvement. Unfortunately, the
bureaucratic roadblocks are very high. I am also type 1 diabetic, and I test
my glucose 4 times a day (the traditional finger stick way). Continuous
glucose monitoring is exceptionally expensive, and uncomfortable/painful also.

A while back I read about a method that used a very small bioactive
fluorescent dye tattoo, and a light sensor to measure glucose levels. It's not
continuous, but it's painless (after the tattoo), can be done often, and is
much less expensive than existing continuous glucose monitoring devices.

Another article I read described some Google research that involved an
instrumented contact lens that measured glucose levels by measuring something
in tears and sending the results using near field communications to a monitor
device. This device provides continuous monitoring, (no tattoo required), and
I am guessing that total cost would be less than existing CGM devices.

I haven't heard anything about these research efforts lately, and if they're
still being worked on, it could be years more before they become available.

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nniroclax
You could check out some clinical informatics fellowships. It seems like there
are more and more of them popping up every month.

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nugget
You should put some contact info in your profile so people can reach out to
you directly.

