Today is our last full day of the program and I’m so sad it’s coming to a close. It’s been such a fun and enriching experience to participate in this program and learn from all the engineers, nurses, and other professionals involved in the healthcare system and innovation here in Bilbao.  We began our day…

Our day started off with a scenic bus ride out to the countryside for a company visit to Tekniker. They’re a company that supports engineering innovative start ups. It was really cool to learn that the company is not exclusive to one sector such as  healthcare or mechanics. Their research spans so many engineering industries,…

We had an interesting start to our day by listening to an engineering professor discuss his research and development of the Balance device. This project is about designing a platform system that can be used to help diagnose balance problems. It is similar to the Oreka-Balance machine, but instead of one connected platform, its two…

We began our second Monday in Spain by visiting a research group in the engineering school at the university. Their work focuses on utilizing sensors to understand when and how a patient is at risk of losing their balance and falling off wheelchairs, and further customizations to better accommodate patients.  They were also working on…

Our day began with a trip to a coffee shop where we were surprised with churros and chocolate! The chocolate came in a coffee mug, but it was thicker than normal hot chocolate, and the churros were not as sweet as the ones you can buy at home. The combination of dipping the churros in…

We’ve almost been in Bilbao for a week at this point, time is really flying by! Our Saturday began with a bus ride to San Sebastián. Before entering the main part of town, we drove up to the top of a hill that had the most scenic views of the town. We took over a…

We had an early start to our day with a walk to Hospital Basurto. This beautiful hospital was entirely different from what hospitals typically look like in the United States. Hospital Basurto is composed of 15 main pavilion buildings each having distinct departments. We had the privilege of receiving detailed tours of some departments in…

We began our day by meeting Gogoa professionals in their rehabilitation space in a private hospital. We learned about the exoskeletons used for aiding in walking rehabilitation for patients who lost the ability to walk by themselves, as well as some common exercises conducted during the rehab appointments. They also have these exoskeleton technologies but…

We started off our day in the School of Engineering and we attended two presentations. The first presentation was about the nursing program at the local university and in Europe in general, and it was interesting to compare and contrast the American and European nursing school programs. We also learned about the reusable pacemaker research…

We had a terrific first Tuesday here in Spain! Our day began with a bus ride out to the Gorliz hospital, which is located right along a gorgeous sandy beach right next to the sea. After our 45 minute drive, we attended presentations from the head of nurses and the hospital, where they explained what…

Today was our first full day in Bilbao, and what a time it was! We started off our day in the Bilbao School of Engineering. There, we learned about the team’s research project: Oreka-Balance. It was incredibly interesting to learn about the team’s research process beginning from early communications with hospital affiliates, to present clinical…