ENME489A: Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering; Optimal Control of Energy Systems

This is a course in reliability and risk analysis techniques applied to the healthcare domain. The course will provide students with a fundamental understanding of qualitative and quantitative tools used to perform reliability and safety analyses and make success-critical decisions in health care. The majority of the instruction is through lectures and in-class/online case studies. Independent learning and real-world application is reinforced through two mini projects and a cumulative final course project focusing on solving real-world problems found in the healthcare system.

 

The course examines six success-critical systems of the healthcare system and the dynamically changing relationship between these systems: Patient, Population, Team, Organization, Network and Environment. The course is structured into three parts focused on: 1) qualitatively and quantitatively identifying the needs, requirements and limitations of the health care system; 2) evaluating health care system reliability; and 3) improving health care system performance. The ultimate goal of the three sections is to provide a systematic quality-driven process for making effective product, process, and system design decisions in health care.