Clinical Immersion Program for Bioengineering and Medical Students

Abstract

is a a designer, researcher and educator. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a graduate degree from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. At the University of Illinois at Chicago she teaches Design Research Methods, Human Experience in Design and Interdisciplinary Product Development. Susan collaborates with non-design faculty to teach the design process, and helps students discover opportunities and solve problems with design. She is the co-instructor of the Clinical Immersion program in the Department of BioEngineering. Susan balances teaching with her professional career as a design researcher, consultant and strategist.

Perspectives on Bioengineering Clinical Immersion: History, Innovation, and Impact

“…This is consistent with our findings from previous publications. 11,18,35 Indeed, this experience may provide a sense of selfefficacy for participants, which has been demonstrated to positively impact student confidence and achievement. 26 This may be at least partially attributable to the interdisciplinary nature of our program, as one participant reported: I cannot overstate the importance of the Clinical Immersion Program… to my success post-graduation.…”

“…Our program has also evolved to include interdisciplinary collaboration between bioengineering and medical students. 35 This dynamic has been beneficial, though challenging. Appropriate and realistic expectations must be set and managed for all team members, particularly if there are considerable age and experience gaps among participants.…”

“…In 2016, medical students from the co-curricular Innovation in Medicine program were included in CIP to introduce interdisciplinary teaming. 35…”

Board 13: Work in Progress: Pilot Shadowing Experiences to Introduce Engineering Students to Speech-Language Pathology

“…Capstone design projects are ubiquitous in engineering education, aimed at promoting practical and real-world projects during an undergraduate's education [7], [8]. The pairing of this shadowing experience with Capstone Design is expected to increase student engagement and satisfaction; supported by results from previous clinical immersions where students expressed their desire to move from needs evaluation to prototype development [5]. Experiences for Speech Pathologists: While our pilot focused on engineering students, future iterations should introduce shadowing experiences for speech-pathology students.…”

Interdisciplinary Clinical Immersion: from Needs Identification to Concept Generation

“…One method of identifying these needs is user-centered design. User-centered design (also referred to as human factors engineering or human-centered design) is a methodical approach to design and has been used extensively in the healthcare industry [1]- [11]. The goal of this methodology is to design solutions around end-users' needs, both implicit and tacit [12], [13].…”