Correcting unintentional biases in medical device product design is a big step toward improving equity in medtech.
Achuta Kadambi, an assistant professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, says when looking at bias in medical devices, there’s often a lot of narrative in the media of what it is. However, it’s also important to address what it doesn’t show.
“One that doesn’t show up is that it’s a really challenging technical problem and an exciting technical problem to address,” he said, citing an example of how light doesn’t play well with darker objects like darker skin tones.
Kadambi, who recently published a column in the journal Science about achieving fairness in medical devices, says there has to be a technical passion for solving these problems. (He also discussed his views during a recent DeviceTalks Weekly podcast.)
He adds that the social impact is equally crucial in making devices fair.
“When inventing a life-saving medical device, it’s important to make sure it doesn’t disadvantage a certain class of people,” Kadambi said. “You want to invent for humanity, not subsets of humanity.”
It’s possible to learn lessons from computer science, Kadambi said, and you can bring that methodology to medical device design as well.
How can medical device product designers ensure their product design isn’t biased? Kadambi said there are several ways to avoid unintentional biases and improve equity in medical device design.
Go to our sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing to find out more.