Start Date
2022
Description
Boston Scientific (BSC) is a biomedical engineering company that specializes in designing and manufacturing devices that are used to help diagnose or treat health conditions in the human body. Primarily based in Europe and North America, BSC has recently been faced with the need to adhere to new sustainability protocols. Many of these protocols are addressed through a product accounting system called a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which is a standardized method for analyzing a product life cycle. A product life cycle for a medical device typically includes material extraction and refinement, component manufacturing, assembly, storage and distribution, use, and end-of-life. The LCA allows for methodical, ethical, and scientifically valid data collection, analysis, and conclusions for the sustainability of each stage of a product life cycle, and for the product as a whole. Thus, as part of their efforts to address new sustainability protocols, BSC determined that a literature-informed guidance document for conducting LCAs should be established. Professor Hartemink and I spent this last summer researching the LCA process and how to apply it to medical devices, so that a final summarized guidance document could be drafted for BSC’s use.
Recommended Citation
Borror, Kyle and Hartemink, Christopher, "Sustainability in Biomedical Engineering" (2022). Summer Research. 3.
https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/summer_research/2022/Posters/3
Included in
Sustainability in Biomedical Engineering
Boston Scientific (BSC) is a biomedical engineering company that specializes in designing and manufacturing devices that are used to help diagnose or treat health conditions in the human body. Primarily based in Europe and North America, BSC has recently been faced with the need to adhere to new sustainability protocols. Many of these protocols are addressed through a product accounting system called a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which is a standardized method for analyzing a product life cycle. A product life cycle for a medical device typically includes material extraction and refinement, component manufacturing, assembly, storage and distribution, use, and end-of-life. The LCA allows for methodical, ethical, and scientifically valid data collection, analysis, and conclusions for the sustainability of each stage of a product life cycle, and for the product as a whole. Thus, as part of their efforts to address new sustainability protocols, BSC determined that a literature-informed guidance document for conducting LCAs should be established. Professor Hartemink and I spent this last summer researching the LCA process and how to apply it to medical devices, so that a final summarized guidance document could be drafted for BSC’s use.