Cal Poly students partner with local medical center to change the world of healthcare

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Bio-Engineering students kicked off a unique summer program on Monday at Tenet Health Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center to change the world of health care.

"Cal Poly’s Bio-Engineering Program and Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) will have students imbedded in clinical spaces at Tenet Health’s Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center to innovate solutions for the challenges facing medical professionals to improve/change healthcare by tapping into the future of tech," said Tenet Health staff.

Together, students and health care providers will collaborate to innovate and improve medical procedures.

The summer project will be a blend of tech, innovation, business, health and higher education.

The program launched as a partnership between Cal Poly and Sierra Vista as part of a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. They've already come up with life changing prototypes such as:

• a skin strip that measures alcohol levels,
• robotic artery stitching,
• and a way to capture/measure blood-loss during birth hemorrhaging that could save lives.

These ideas can then be turned into business incubator projects, funded, and developed into reality.

This year’s group starts the unique interface this week and the immersion will include viewing patient operations in the Operating Room, time in the ER, time in ICU and NICU, L&D, and ancillary (blood lab, imaging, respiratory, radiology, rehab, etc.).

After three weeks of immersion, students will choose their projects and start the first week of August.

When projects are completed, students will present them in early September.

For more from Christina, follow her on Twitter below: