Communicating a clinical problem to the engineers: towards a common methodology

The purpose of this article is to present a method for communicating a clinical problem to a group of engineers. The seven-step design process described has been used for this type of communication and audience. A research project focusing on improvement of orthognathic surgery planning, including transfer of information to the operating room, is used as an example. The adoption of the seven-step design process, positioned within the symmetrical problem/solution model, could be the first step in facilitating communication between clinicians and engineers in translational research, and assisting in group focus on the development of a device (system) intended to solve a specific clinical problem.