“How do you feel when you want to help someone but you are unable to?” This question might not make any sense to you now but after reading about it, you will also ask these things to yourself. Where will I use the skill and techniques I am studying in real world? How can I make myself available to the service of the society? What is stopping me to use my knowledge to serve the people? One incidence during my under-graduation days created to raise such anxiety in me.

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This was during my third year of engineering where we had clinical subjects being taught in the hospital. When I was returning back, I took a detour back to the hostel. I saw an accident case being brought to the emergency and trauma unit. The patient seemed quite young and was accompanied by his parents. I wondered, how is he going to make it back to his normal life now. Studying engineering, it was natural to imagine a possible solution that the patient can use to become normal again. He can take the help of a walking cane or walker to support his legs for a while, he can exercise few routines to help the joints and muscles gain its power back or many such things.

 

The engineering principles can be used to develop technological devices to assist individuals with disabilities and to aid the recovery of physical functions lost because of disease or injury. This is termed as “Rehabilitation Engineering”. One of my friends, who was pursuing his Physiotherapy course at a medical school explained to me the system of treating post-traumatic patients. He explained the ongoing research in this field such as rehabilitation robotics, virtual rehabilitation, physical prostheses, advanced kinematics, sensory prostheses and many more.

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This kindled the enthusiasm inside me to get involved in this field. I was eager to learn various engineering strategies to overcome the challenges for traumatic and post-traumatic conditions. I got myself acquainted with one of the senior professors in my department and his post-graduation students. The interest shown by me back then was appreciated by them and they included me in their team.

 

During this time, I had hands on experience to design a sophisticated electronic circuit so that the board or chip looks neat. This would allow easy detection of flaw in the circuit and analysis of network in case of any error. I was taught the application of such circuits to be used in a robot suit. This was a project that one of my seniors was involved to help bed ridden post traumatic patients to learn to walk and gain muscle strength. I was also involved with the design team of a mobile CPR unit project. My interest in designing solutions triggered here.

 

Looking at my enthusiasm, my professor made me do documentation and filing work. He had been assisting his post-graduation students to file BIRAC grant and I was given the responsibility of documenting the work and drafting it in the required manner. Of course, it was being cross verified by the project lead and my professor as well.

 

Finally, I got my answers. The best way to utilize my skills out in the real world is by getting into the research wing of healthcare industry where I will be able to contribute my techniques to build solutions. To make my service to be fruitful to the society, I should ensure the product comes to the market where it can be accessed by the needy. Experience teaches you the art of serving the society.