Clinical Immersion for Biomedical Engineers: Pivoting to a Virtual Format
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Biomedical Engineering Education (Ó 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-020-00032-x
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Clinical Immersion for Biomedical Engineers: Pivoting to a Virtual Format ELLEN P. BRENNAN-PIERCE ,1 SUSAN G. STANTON,2 and JULIE A. DUNN2 1
School of Biomedical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; and 2UCHealth North, Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland, CO, USA (Received 30 June 2020; accepted 15 September 2020)
CHALLENGE STATEMENT Throughout their curriculum, Biomedical Engineering (BME) undergraduate students become proficient in math, biomedical science, and their engineering specialization. BME senior capstone design courses often focus on medical device design, and we frequently hear from collaborators in the BME industry how important it is for young biomedical engineers to be exposed to clinical experiences to truly understand the environment and constraints that must be considered for successful design of medical devices. Furthermore, with clinicians being one of the major users of devices developed by biomedical engineers, it is valuable for biomedical engineers to spend time interacting with clinicians, learn the language of the clinical environment, and experience the state-of-the-art and present limitations of clinical care. However, there are very few opportunities for Colorado State University (CSU) BME students to gain significant exposure to clinical settings. Experiential clinical programs for BME students can provide this opportunity, resulting in better preparedness to solve real-world problems, identify needs related to clinical settings, and apply knowledge learned in the classroom setting.1 Clinical simulationbased training and clinical immersion (CI) programs are two approaches to providing experiential clinical experience for BME students. Clinical simulationbased training has been found to be a valuable tool for BME students to practice hands-on real-world needs finding and device development.2 CI programs for BME students help students feel better prepared for
Address correspondence to Ellen P. Brennan-Pierce, School of Biomedical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. Electronic mail: [email protected]
their capstone design experience,3 promote a strong understanding of user centered design,3,5 an improved ability to work with clinicians to define unmet needs,4,5 and positive impacts on the students’ career interests and ability to find their first employment position.6 To bring CI opportunities to more BME students, NIH/ NIBIB has provided funding to create these programs at more than 25 institutions across the United States through the R25 ‘‘Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education’’.6 Through this NIH/NIBIB funding mechanism, CSU and University of Colorado Health Medical Center of the Rockies (UCH-MCR) have run a collaborative summer CI program for BME students in summer 2018 and summer 2019. In this program, students attended patient rounds, observed surgical procedures and enga
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