Abstract
The recent tremendous advances in medical technology at the level of academic research have set high expectations for the clinical outcomes they promise to deliver. To the demise of patient hopes, however, the more disruptive and invasive a new technology is, the bigger the gap is separating the conceptualization of a medical device and its adoption into healthcare systems. When technology breakthroughs are reported in the biomedical scientific literature, news focus typically lies on medical implications rather than engineering progress, as the former are of higher appeal to a general readership. While successful therapy and diagnostics are indeed the ultimate goals, it is of equal importance to expose the engineering thinking needed to achieve such results and, critically, identify the challenges that still lie ahead. Here, we would like to provoke thoughts on the following questions, with particular focus on microfabricated medical devices: should research advancing the maturity and reliability of medical technology benefit from higher accessibility and visibility? How can the scientific community encourage and reward academic work on the overshadowed engineering aspects that will facilitate the evolution of laboratory samples into clinical devices?
Highlights
The Impact ParadoxMicro- and nano-technologies applied in the medical field have long surpassed science fiction in evoking ideas for new treatments, and this is increasingly evident when browsing the latest published research
When publishing medical research that employs a new technology, the research and development aspects related to the technology itself often remain in the background, and sometimes are not thoroughly reported, as they tend to fall into methodology sections or supplementary information
The captivating nature of the glistening results obtained in first-time patients or animal models may, eclipse important work on technology innovation that is instead essential for the development of clinic-apt medical tools to be used in research and in patient care
Summary
Micro- and nano-technologies applied in the medical field have long surpassed science fiction in evoking ideas for new treatments, and this is increasingly evident when browsing the latest published research. This self-established mechanism requires researchers to conduct preclinical or clinical studies to confer credibility to their technology, and on the other hand this causes the community to overlook the importance of intermediate engineering steps in the development of a medical device, highlighting the lack of standardized processes that guide technologies to the users. In this respect, Micromachines 2021, 12, 1471. In light of the considerations we would above,into we would like our readers to ponder on whether research impactabove, quantification like our readers to ponder on whether quantification shouldexerts be adapted should be adapted to include measuresresearch of how, impact and to what extent, research influ- to include measures of how, and to what extent, research exerts influence and reaches ence and reaches end users, clinicians and patients in our case, beyond the scholarly met-end users, rics. clinicians and patients in our case, beyond the scholarly metrics
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