The beginning of the end – Thomas N. Shetui
After an intensive needs finding session at both Muhimbili National Hospital and CCBRT Tanzania, a significant amount of final projects emerged. Final projects such as bubble CPAP, wall suction system, UVGI, central line ultrasound training module, automatic CPR system and length board came from mostly two wards of Muhimbili National Hospital’s Pediatric Department while other small projects such as POP cutter blades were obtained from CCBRT Hospital particularly the Prosthetics and Orthotics Department.
All the findings collected from both case study sites were gathered and compiled into titled projects as mentioned above. Though most final projects that needed extra attention were from Muhimbili National Hospital, there were some crucial insights obtained from CCBRT Hospital i.e. the Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O) department. Although the crucial insights from CCBRT Hospital were not the main focus, they would be good topics to work on as either a mini or final project.
Figure 1: Needs finding at CCBRT Hospital
For instance, Figure 1 shows a needs finding a session in one of the storage room at the CCBRT Hospital, P&O department. The room was full of Lulzbot Taz 3D printers which are considered among the best 3D printers worldwide but were abandoned to wither away with the grandioso power they possess. This is a challenge for both innovators and P&O professionals to ensure effective utilization of these available tools ensuring desirable throughput of both the machines and the knowledge obtained about them.
Figure 2: Downloading findings
All observations and findings from both Muhimbili National Hospital and CCBRT Hospital were to be downloaded immediately after the needs finding session ended. This was done purposefully for future reference e.g. projects mentioned are all products of needs finding sessions’ downloads made right after the session each day as seen in Figure 2.