New medical technology laboratory in Görlitz

On December 9, 2016, the Medical Technology Laboratory in Görlitz presented its teaching materials and research projects to representatives of the Saxon State Medical Association in the Görlitz district for the first time.

The communication psychology program uses the laboratory to measure human performance parameters for applied research and teaching. In the Master’s program in Social Gerontology, these measurement methods are used to assess physical and cognitive vitality parameters associated with aging. The “Corporal Plus” psychometric test is also used for driver fitness evaluations and during medical-psychological examinations (MPU), along with a hearing test (audiometer) and the Vistec Visiolite vision testing device.

Visitors showed particular interest in the presentation by Dipl. Psych. Tino Schmidt, who introduced current medical technology applications.

For example, in collaboration with the University Hospital of Dresden, a computer-assisted learning therapy for the most common mental disorder in children and adolescents (ADHD) is being developed for home use. It is based on mobile measurement of brain waves in the patients’ natural everyday environment.

However, the focus of this new research approach is on preventing illnesses long before they occur; according to a study commissioned by the federal government, everyday stress in the workplace is the primary long-term cause of chronic illnesses. Eighty-two percent of the 17,000 respondents reported having at least one health problem due to workplace stress (Federal Stress Report 2012).

At the same time, the rate of illness-related absences is disproportionately high in the very sectors that are key to future growth—namely, elder care and the jobs of the future in Industry 4.0 (DGB, 2016).

To address this problem, in cooperation with the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus (Institute for Medical Technology/Medical Informatics), new technological methods are being developed, such as miniaturized long-term self-monitoring ECGs (electrocardiography for examining heart activity) and low-energy CPR monitoring circuits that can continuously record users’ vital signs over several months —using highly sensitive measurement methods to identify risks in a timely manner that would otherwise develop into diseases only over the course of several years.

This approach breaks new ground, as the psychological stress and strain measurements commonly used to date have been based on subjective questionnaires and interviews. The laboratory is therefore supervised by occupational and organizational psychologist Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Matthias Schmidt.