In 2024, when I was a third-year student in industrial safety engineering, at the Faculty of materials science and engineering, I participated in the first stage of the Smart healthcare engineering project. This stage took place at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, in collaboration with the Doctor Negrin University Hospital.
My wish to apply for this project came from my curiosity about the field. As a student in industrial safety engineering, I only had a general idea about what happens behind the scenes in a hospital. The experience was more than impressive because the classes were complex and covered many topics, such as air purification systems, absolute filters and the importance of their maintenance, recycling of medical waste, and the types of materials used in hospitals to keep bacteria away, for example legionella.
From the professors from Manisa, Turkey, I learned about the national digital system they use in the healthcare field. For medical institutions, the administrative documents of a patient can be accessed by both public and private institutions. Also, the patient can access this documentation personally, safely and efficiently, with only one click, without the need for physical archives.
The Doctor Negrin University Hospital was above any expectation I could have had from a hospital located on an island. It was something that took my breath away from the first steps toward the inner courtyard. The staff tried to cover the wide range of students from different specializations and they were open to answering all our questions. We learned new and interesting things about the problems they face every day in their field.
In this way, I understood better the importance of engineers in healthcare. I also understood how close collaboration between medical staff and hospital engineers can create an easier work process, without many problems, and a safe place for both employees and patients.
In 2025, during the second stage of the project, which took place in Brașov, Romania, I participated again because I wanted to see more about the development of engineering in the medical field. I also wanted to learn about the partner hospitals in the project, Săcele Municipal Hospital and Clinicco Hospital.
In these institutions, I discovered equipment used for stent implantation. I also learned how investigations in pathological anatomy are carried out with special equipment. This equipment must not contaminate the samples, but must prepare them in a sterile environment so they can be analyzed.
All this information from the hospitals was completed by the classes where materials compatible with the human body were presented. Materials that can be 3D printed are very important for medicine, and this field is constantly developing. There are departments in hospitals where engineers use 3D printers and different materials.
At the request of surgeons, engineers can create 1:1 models of an organ or a part of the body, so that doctors can prepare for surgery. Practicing on 3D printed parts gives doctors access to the areas where they will operate and helps them consider different possibilities before the operation. These departments also use 3D printing for implants, where titanium and ceramic materials can be used to make prostheses compatible with the human body and with very good material properties.
At present, I am a first-year master’s student in occupational safety and health, at the Faculty of materials science and engineering. I also plan to participate in the last stage of the Smart healthcare engineering project. This year, the project will take place in Manisa, Turkey. I would like to have the opportunity to discover more about the digital healthcare system that I heard about in the previous years, and also to learn many other new things that will be presented.
This project was an opportunity to discover a new field, a field where not everyone thinks about what happens behind the scenes and how important and necessary engineering really is. I am glad that I had the courage two years ago to apply for the interview and to have this experience. Even now, I still talk about what I saw and learned in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
This project opened my vision about the future and about the possibility of working in this field. It helped me develop myself and grow towards other possible branches of engineering.
My wish to apply for this project came from my curiosity about the field. As a student in industrial safety engineering, I only had a general idea about what happens behind the scenes in a hospital. The experience was more than impressive because the classes were complex and covered many topics, such as air purification systems, absolute filters and the importance of their maintenance, recycling of medical waste, and the types of materials used in hospitals to keep bacteria away, for example legionella.
From the professors from Manisa, Turkey, I learned about the national digital system they use in the healthcare field. For medical institutions, the administrative documents of a patient can be accessed by both public and private institutions. Also, the patient can access this documentation personally, safely and efficiently, with only one click, without the need for physical archives.
The Doctor Negrin University Hospital was above any expectation I could have had from a hospital located on an island. It was something that took my breath away from the first steps toward the inner courtyard. The staff tried to cover the wide range of students from different specializations and they were open to answering all our questions. We learned new and interesting things about the problems they face every day in their field.
In this way, I understood better the importance of engineers in healthcare. I also understood how close collaboration between medical staff and hospital engineers can create an easier work process, without many problems, and a safe place for both employees and patients.
In 2025, during the second stage of the project, which took place in Brașov, Romania, I participated again because I wanted to see more about the development of engineering in the medical field. I also wanted to learn about the partner hospitals in the project, Săcele Municipal Hospital and Clinicco Hospital.
In these institutions, I discovered equipment used for stent implantation. I also learned how investigations in pathological anatomy are carried out with special equipment. This equipment must not contaminate the samples, but must prepare them in a sterile environment so they can be analyzed.
All this information from the hospitals was completed by the classes where materials compatible with the human body were presented. Materials that can be 3D printed are very important for medicine, and this field is constantly developing. There are departments in hospitals where engineers use 3D printers and different materials.
At the request of surgeons, engineers can create 1:1 models of an organ or a part of the body, so that doctors can prepare for surgery. Practicing on 3D printed parts gives doctors access to the areas where they will operate and helps them consider different possibilities before the operation. These departments also use 3D printing for implants, where titanium and ceramic materials can be used to make prostheses compatible with the human body and with very good material properties.
At present, I am a first-year master’s student in occupational safety and health, at the Faculty of materials science and engineering. I also plan to participate in the last stage of the Smart healthcare engineering project. This year, the project will take place in Manisa, Turkey. I would like to have the opportunity to discover more about the digital healthcare system that I heard about in the previous years, and also to learn many other new things that will be presented.
This project was an opportunity to discover a new field, a field where not everyone thinks about what happens behind the scenes and how important and necessary engineering really is. I am glad that I had the courage two years ago to apply for the interview and to have this experience. Even now, I still talk about what I saw and learned in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
This project opened my vision about the future and about the possibility of working in this field. It helped me develop myself and grow towards other possible branches of engineering.