Publicación:

Dispositivo electromecánico para estudiantes con movilidad reducida

Resumen

Disability as a complex phenomenon reflects an interaction between the features of the human organism and the features of the society in which it lives” (1), thus it interacts with the social and political contexts and the living conditions of each individual. (2) The Colombian Ministry of National Education proposes an Inclusive Education in order to “meet the common and specific needs of the students with quality and equity”, recognizing diversity as an asset and seeing opportunities as a mean for consolidating an education accessible for everybody. (3) The report on the analysis of accessibility in higher education for people with disabilities (2012) expresses a concern for the technological provision of support, updates, teacher development and methods that favor learning, such as virtual education. (4) It is possible to observe that Inclusive Education transcends the academic field and focuses in analyzing the barriers to learning and self-involvement in the education system. Thus, it is suggested that students are not the actors that should change to gain access to education, stay on it and graduate, “it is the system itself that must transform in order to deal with the inherent wealth of the student diversity.” (5) The Faculty of Dentistry has been carrying out some adaptations to the clinical and preclinical environments in which a student with reduced mobility is trained. Nonetheless, there are still some barriers and difficulties to operate the electromechanical equipment used in the dental practice. Objective: To apply an electromechanical device to the equipment that requires the use of lower extremities for students with reduced mobility in the Faculty of Dentistry of the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. Pilot study. Material and Methods: An intervention project from the technological innovation perspective was carried out. This project started with an analysis of the technological advances for the improvement in performance of disabled dentists or staff in the Health sector. Subsequently, the researchers described the physical and performance barriers of students with reduced mobility in clinical and preclinical areas. Afterwards, an electromechanical device was developed. Such device was validated by students with reduced mobility, applying the necessary adjustments and modifications, ending with a patent application. The project is considered risk-free (Statute 8430/93) (6) and takes into account the principles of technological development. (7). Results: The invention of a portable device, which consists of a touch switch which is activated from the hand of the student, transforming electrical energy into mechanical energy, which is used to press the pedal that moves the part of high and low speed of the computer dental or the cavitron pedal. The portable structure, allows you to easily transport the device and adjust it to the switch in such a way that it does not suffer any structural or mechanical modifications.In addition, the clinic areas were modified to improve the student’s movement. Conclusions: The portable device allowed the improvement of students’ performance in the clinical area as it reduced their functional limitations.