This project aims to gain insight into the frameworks that shape communication networks at the point of care, and by extension, the impact of epistemic credibility of physician recommendations and empirical validation of 3D printed assistive devices on the integration of innovative practices like additive manufacturing processes within clinical care.
As such, the study’s goal is to better understand how personal experience, medical expertise, and functional value contribute to the cultural uptake or rejection of novel ideas and practices to build upon the philosophical claim that creativity is the expression of non-standard ideas characterized by a tradition’s medium and method, which expands belief systems and social practices by challenging what is considered to be a standard idea or practice.
Over a two-year period, the study will track the translation of knowledge through a posteriori means by providing the physician and patient access to customized 3D printed assistive devices. Gathering preliminary information regarding qualitative factors like physician’s interest level and familiarity with 3D printing assistive devices, alongside quantitative factors like the number of patients under their care and the number of patients prescribed a treatment that requires infusion pumps.
After the protective cases have been distributed, follow-up questionnaires will be sent to participating physicians to assess shifts in the qualitative factors.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT:
Starting at the Lubbock campus, TTUHSC introduced 3D print services in 2014, incorporating the application as a rotation in the School of Medicine program. Residency placement of rotation participants spread across all disciplines, including Family and Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Neurology, OB/Gyn, Child Neurology, and Emergency Medicine.
To date, the Methodology Lab and maker space in the Odessa library have completed projects at both the department and individual levels, contributing PPE after the onset of COVID and providing anatomic models for skills training in surgery, sonography, ultrasound, computed tomography, and other academic uses. 3D print technologies are now ubiquitous in the health sciences. The literature demonstrates clinical applications such as models for patients to manipulate to better understand their condition, the printing of custom surgical tools for the theater, and anatomical models used for practicing complex procedures—all of which are quickly becoming the norm.
Moreover, 3D printing’s capacity for generating customized assistive devices can improve the daily lives of patients requiring a portable infusion pump that delivers fluids, such as nutrients and medications, into a patient’s body in controlled amounts. Our intent is to promote scholarly activity on the broad adoption of best practices and the innovative incorporation of this technology in meaningful ways.
