Tabassum Nawshin, Higbee Steven, Miller Sharon
Department of Economics, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Biomed Eng Educ. 2024 Jan;4(1):15-31. doi: 10.1007/s43683-023-00124-4. Epub 2023 Sep 5.
Clinical immersion experiences provide engineering students with opportunities to identify unmet user needs and to interact with clinical professionals. These experiences have become common features of undergraduate biomedical engineering curricula, with many published examples in the literature. There are, however, few or no published studies that describe rigorous qualitative analysis of biomedical engineering student reflections from immersion programs.
Fifteen reflection prompts that align with program learning goals were developed and structured based on the DEAL model for critical reflection. Undergraduate participants in a summer immersion program responded to these prompts throughout five weeks of clinical rotations. Data from two summer cohorts of participants ( = 20) were collected, and thematic analysis was performed to characterize student responses.
Students reported learning about key healthcare topics, such as medical insurance, access to healthcare (and lack thereof), stakeholder perspectives, and key medical terminology and knowledge. Most reflections also noted that students could apply newly gained medical knowledge to biomedical engineering design. Further, clinical immersion provided students with a realistic view of the biomedical engineering profession and potential areas for future professional growth, with many reflections identifying the ability to communicate with a variety of professionals as key to student training. Some students reflected on conversations with patients, noting that these interactions reinvigorated their passion for the biomedical engineering field. Finally, 63% of student reflections identified instances in which patients of low socioeconomic status were disadvantaged in health care settings.
Clinical immersion programs can help close the gap between academic learning and the practical experience demands of the field, as design skills and product development experience are becoming increasingly necessary for biomedical engineers. Our work initiates efforts toward more rigorous analysis of students' reactions and experiences, particularly around socioeconomic and demographic factors, which may provide guidance for continuous improvement and development of clinical experiences for biomedical engineers.
临床沉浸式体验为工科学生提供了识别未满足的用户需求并与临床专业人员互动的机会。这些体验已成为本科生物医学工程课程的常见特色，文献中有许多已发表的实例。然而，很少有已发表的研究描述对生物医学工程专业学生在沉浸式项目中的反思进行严格的定性分析。
根据批判性反思的DEAL模型，制定并构建了15个与项目学习目标一致的反思提示。参加暑期沉浸式项目的本科学生在为期五周的临床轮转期间对这些提示做出回应。收集了来自两个暑期参与者队列（n = 20）的数据，并进行了主题分析以描述学生的回应。
学生报告了对关键医疗保健主题的学习，如医疗保险、获得医疗保健服务（以及缺乏这种服务的情况）、利益相关者的观点以及关键医学术语和知识。大多数反思还指出，学生可以将新获得的医学知识应用于生物医学工程设计。此外，临床沉浸式体验让学生对生物医学工程专业以及未来职业发展的潜在领域有了现实的认识，许多反思都指出与各种专业人员沟通的能力是学生培训的关键。一些学生反思了与患者的对话，指出这些互动重新激发了他们对生物医学工程领域的热情。最后，63%的学生反思指出了社会经济地位较低的患者在医疗环境中处于不利地位的情况。
临床沉浸式项目有助于缩小学术学习与该领域实际经验需求之间的差距，因为设计技能和产品开发经验对生物医学工程师来说变得越来越必要。我们的工作开启了对学生反应和经历进行更严格分析的努力，特别是围绕社会经济和人口因素，这可能为生物医学工程师临床体验的持续改进和发展提供指导。
