PhD on Remote Patient Management for patients with Chronic Heart Failure

Key Skills

AI technology

Job Description

The Department of Industrial Design of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) is looking for a PhD-student in Design, Development, and Evaluation of Remote Patient Management Tools for Heart Failure Patients

About the project

We are seeking one PhD candidate for the MEDical Engineering, Innovations and Applications (MEDEIA) research project. This project aims to enhance and implement remote patient management in patients with heart failure in the full health care chain involving the Netherlands Heart Network (5 regional hospitals and 3 large care groups of general practitioners). The PhD research takes a patient-centered and healthcare professional-centered approach to optimize patient value (i.e. patient-relevant outcomes divided by costs) and evaluate this in healthcare practice. Currently, implementation of a regional remote patient management program is already ongoing.

You will be part of an innovative multi-disciplinary team

This project is part of the Eindhoven MedTech Innovation Center (e/MTIC). e/MTIC is a public-private partnership aimed at creating and growing an ecosystem that offers a fast track to high-tech health innovations. Within this ecosystem, we aim to create impactful innovations in the cardiovascular domain, through close multidisciplinary collaboration between an academic partner (Eindhoven University of Technology), top-clinical hospitals (Maxima Medical Center, Catharina Hospital Eindhoven) and industrial partners (Philips Research and Philips Experience Design). This PhD position will be embedded in a multidisciplinary team of PhD candidates with clinical, psychological and design expertise. These candidates will closely collaborate and share data and methodologies as complementary focus points of each PhD position.

This PhD position

Although remote patient management is generally considered an important step towards sustainable healthcare, clinical evidence and implementation research are still lagging behind. This PhD position is centered around the

design and development of existing and novel technological applications to enhance remote care in heart failure patients that encourage long-term use and trustworthy engagement, and that also seamlessly fit into complex clinical workflows. The evidence and knowledge gathered during the Ph.D. will be incorporated into existing (regional) remote care pathways to further improve the experience of healthcare professionals and heart failure patients with remote care.

In this position you will:

• Conduct hospital field studies to analyze barriers and facilitators for remote patient management among all stakeholders involved in the care of high-risk heart failure patients
• Redesign the remote patient management care pathway building on previous research and novel insights by taking a patient-centered and healthcare professional-centered approach
• Set-up a data infrastructure and develop AI-powered tools for supporting professionals with clinical decision making and patients with self-management. You will make use of a combination of real-world data and data from quality registrations
• Conduct experimental studies to research the effect of design interventions on patient value, acceptance of technology and compliance

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, www.tue.nl ) is one of Europe’s leading research universities. The Eindhoven area, in the southern part of the Netherlands, is one of Europe’s top ‘innovation ecosystems’, with many high-tech companies and institutes. TU/e is intertwined with many of these companies and institutes, and research at TU/e is characterized by a combination of academic excellence, industrial relevance and societal interweaving. The Department of Industrial Design (ID) of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), founded in 2001, is a maturing department with over 650 students, both Bachelor and Master, and around 40 research staff members and about 10 lecturers. The mission of the department of Industrial Design at TU/e is Research on and Education in the Design of Systems with Emerging Technologies in a Societal Context.

The PhDs will be under the supervision of dr. Hareld Kemps (Department of Industrial Design at TU/e and cardiologist at Maxima Medical Center), dr. Mathias Funk (Department of Industrial Design) and dr. Jeroen van de Pol. At the TU/e, the positions are situated within the research cluster of ‘Future Everyday’. The Future Everyday cluster investigates the everyday interactions between individual people and the highly interconnected technology that surrounds them. Researchers measure, model and design for the user experience when individuals interact with social-technological networks in their homes, at work, in transit, while doing sports or going out. The project will be executed in close collaboration with the NHN; the PhD student will therefore also be working at and interacting with the regional hospitals collaborating hospitals situated in Southeast Brabant within the NHN.

Prospective starting date: February 2023.

Job requirements

• Recently completed (or be close to the completion of) a Master's degree in Industrial Design, or a field related to clinical decision-making, human cognitive psychology, and/or design of intelligent systems.
• Demonstrable experience in conducting qualitative research; particularly contextual inquiry, ethnography, workflow observations and analysis of team decision making.
• Demonstrable experience in conducting experimental research, including knowledge of and demonstrable experience with applying (state of the art) statistical techniques.
• Openness, interest and good soft skills to work closely with people from other disciplines and across organizations in a network setting.
• Eager to learn and tackle complex healthcare challenges. Experience working in a healthcare (design) context is a plus.
• Fluency in English is a must (written and spoken), Dutch (spoken) is desirable considering that this position includes conducting contextual inquiry studies in Dutch hospitals.
• Good academic writing skills. Experience with scientific publishing is a plus.

Conditions of employment

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €. 2.541 - max. € 3.247).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

Information and application

About us

Eindhoven University of Technology is an internationally top-ranking university in the Netherlands that combines scientific curiosity with a hands-on attitude. Our spirit of collaboration translates into an open culture and a top-five position in collaborating with advanced industries. Fundamental knowledge enables us to design solutions for the highly complex problems of today and tomorrow. 

Information

Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more?

Please contact the hiring manager dr. Hareld Kemps, email: h.m.c.kemps[at]tue.nl.

For general information about the Department Industrial Design, please visit http://www.id.tue.nl/.

Visit our website for more information about the application process - https://www.tue.nl/en/working-at-tue/why-tue/application-process/ or the conditions of employment. You can also contact HR Services Industrial Design, tel. +31(0) 40 2475336, e-mail: HR-IndustrialDesign[at]tue.nl.

Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page.

Application

We invite you to submit a complete application by using the apply button. Your application must contain the following documents (all in English):

• a written application letter with a clear motivation section
• a curriculum vitae
• existing publications (if available)

The deadline for applications is January 15, 2023. However, if you are interested, we invite you to apply as soon possible. Selection will begin immediately and continue until the position has been filled.

Please note that a maximum of 5 documents of 2 MB each can be uploaded via the apply now button. If you have more than 5 documents you will have to combine them.

Applications per e-mail are not accepted.