My Scope of Practice: The Industry Side of Passion

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.” — Buddha

  My Scope of Practice usually focuses on wound, ostomy, and continence care providers — professionals serving at the bedside in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and clinics. In this column, we rarely lift the veil between industry and practice to present innovative persons who, rather than personally treat patients, create a product to enhance patient treatment. Is their passion any less than the nurses and doctors providing patient care? Do the long hours spent developing and testing new products mean less than the hours a clinician spends at bedside? Or does it take a different kind of passion, a different kind of determination, to dedicate your life and work in an industry where you don’t get to experience the immediate day-to-day feedback or the instant gratification of seeing a patient smile and thank you?   For Ravi Ramjit, PhD, Vice President of Research and Development, EuroMed, Inc, there is no lack of passion.

  Dr. Ramjit earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry and Biomedical Science and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (Brooklyn, NY). His education led him to the industry side of healthcare. During Dr. Ramjit’s final year in his PhD program, he started working on identifying forces required to stall a nanomotor that transcribes DNA. After graduation, he was given the opportunity to work with the distinguished Dr. Stephen Arnold at the MicroParticle Photophysics Lab of the Polytechnic Institute as part of a team focused on designing optical-based biosensors for the detection of viruses and other pathogens. The ultimate goal of the project was to develop an infield-use sensor to detect, in real-time, pathogens in drinking water and the bloodstream, down to a single viral detection limit.

  Once Dr. Ramjit had his foot in the door of product development, stepping into the wound care specialty was easy. During his first year as Product Development Engineer at EuroMed, he attended a professional WOCN conference. “Some of the case studies presented regarding wound care were fascinating and triggered an instinctive response to help those suffering with these ailments,” Dr. Ramjit says. “Even though I had not previously worked with wounds like these, I knew I had to put my chemical engineering skills to use by improving wound care products currently available, as well as developing entirely new solutions.”

  One area of wound care that Dr. Ramjit realized needed improvement was adhesives. After visiting a curative and palliative medical center several years ago, he noticed dressing changes could be difficult and painful, especially when it was time to remove adhesive from skin. “At the time, our company was working on a ‘skin-friendly’ adhesive,” he says. “Immediately after the visit, I implemented a mandatory design input into our new adhesive requirements: minimal pain upon dressing removal. The dressing changes I witnessed were on middle-aged patients. I couldn’t imagine how these adhesive dressings changes felt for geriatric and pediatrics patients. Our ultimate objectives are to eliminate this unnecessary, painful experience in multiple dressing appliances. Our company continues to explore new skin-friendly technology opportunities and advances in this area.”

  Achieving Dr. Ramjit’s vision is not without obstacles. Although insurance and reimbursement limitations represent the majority of industry challenges, the Food and Drug Administration remains a pivotal force to be reckoned with in ensuring best practices and protocols are followed in medical device development. Standardizing wound care is difficult: something may work in one case study and fail in another. But Dr. Ramjit continues to investigate what is working and what will work and design products around specific outcomes. For him, the rigorous development cycle is invaluable when it results in a product that improves lives.

  Dr. Ramjit recalls one particular ostomate he met when developing an ostomy adhesive. “The condition of the skin around her stoma was in very bad shape, and she expressed her desire to not have to worry about the bag falling off during the summer months or to have to frequent doctor visits to treat her extremely irritated peristomal skin,” he said. “After our company developed a new ostomy seal barrier, she was one of the first patients who volunteered to test the product. She was so pleased and sent a personal note of thanks, letting me know the product worked well, was comfortable, and gave her the confidence she needed to enjoy the rest of her summer.”

  Dr. Ramjit hopes to perpetuate a positive impact on ostomy and wound patients for many years to come. As he continues to meet new product development challenges, his passion for innovation grows. Whether testing new adhesives in the lab or talking with patients about their needs, for Dr. Ramjit the objective is simple: develop products that enable WOCNs to do their jobs with the best tools possible, leading to better clinical outcomes in their scope of practice.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.