Demand for 3D printing expertise is flourishing

Gaurav Loyalka, Co-founder of Novabeans informs that 3D modeling and printing are one of the most sought after skills and these jobs will see a rapid growth in the medical sector

3D printing is developing incredibly in the healthcare sector, right from visualisation aids for surgeries,  the technology offers numerous benefits viz better surgical preparation, significant reduction of surgical costs and more opport
unities for better patient education.

The demand from medical institutes and research centre for skilled 3D printing resources are increasing day by day. From prosthetics to human tissue, 3D printing promotes medical advancement and saves lives. As such, the 3D printing industry will need more engineers, designers and modelers who have a biomedical or scientific background in order to further innovate and produce highly advanced 3D-printed products.

The areas where job opportunities are on the horizon :

• 3D anatomical medical models designers
• Digital dentistry workflow
• Customise prosthetic designing
• FDM and SLA 3d printing technologies medical integrator
• Medical 3D printing and scanner engineers (SMEs)
• Biological and scientific modeling engineers
• 3D  printing  teachers and trainers

The 3D printing medical courses and medical workshops is first of its kind in the area of creativity and computerised manufacturing techniques in health sector. It is designed to enhance the creativity and technical skills of materials, 3D concepts, model designing, computer aided designing, real world objects creation, machines, manufacturing, motor skills, prototyping and new technology adoption. Novabeans helps schools to establish 3D printing labs across India, we offer Illinois University certified  training  course for students and medical professionals to help them better adopt the technology at early stage in health sector and in other verticals.

3D printing in India is in a very nascent stage when compared to various developed economies across Europe, America and Asia, primarily because of high pricing and lack of ecosystem. But the future holds high promises as many startups are emerging with interesting innovations and diverse applications in medical sector due to affordability, ease of use, quality of rapid production. Most of the enterprises and medical institutes are opening in-house innovation centres.

3D printing applications in medical fraternity:

• Prosthetics and orthotics clinics which once used conventional plaster casts – which usually take between one to two weeks  to  deliver – have been replaced with 3D printing techniques for custom-made devices that can be delivered within a day
• 3D printed prosthetics development is being used more and more in hospitals and clinics. The  ability  to  quickly repair and adapt any part of  the  prosthetics  is  incredibly useful, especially as  the  body changes.
• The  computer process enables medical staff  to  save work (digital files), share them with colleagues for review and keep a digital record of a patient’s history of devices.
• Surgical Guides : Creating patient-specific models from CT and MRI scans expands from medical research into practical application with  the  ability  to  prepare doctors for surgeries, thus drastically reducing surgery times. Taking this one step further, there are numerous examples of using medical scan data to 3D print implants tailor-made to the patient.
• Lot of advancement is happening in bones and cartilage in the past few years.

Research labs are yet to bioprint a meniscus that can withstand the kind of pressure and pounding that a real one can, engineers are well on their way to understanding how to apply these properties.

• 3D printers simplify your existing workflow and reduces chairside time, allowing clinicians to perform precise, cost-effective surgeries with better clinical outcomes. Cost per surgical guide Rs 16000 – Rs 50000 has grown down  to Rs 260 – Rs 540.  The  reduction in time from three weeks to just 2.5 hours.
• While an entire organ is yet  to be successfully printed for practical surgical use, scientists and researchers have successfully printed kidney cells, sheets of cardiac tissue that beat like a real heart and  the foundations of a human liver, among many other organ tissues.
• There are many benefits of 3D printed anatomical models for preoperative planning and enhanced patient consent in various surgical specialties and fields, including orthopedic, cardiothoracic, vascular, oral and maxillofacial, oncology, plastics, reconstructive, urology, pediatric, and interventional radiology.