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A Qualitative Study of Biomedical Engineering Student Critical Reflection During Clinical Immersion Experiences

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

Methods

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 (n = 20) were collected, and thematic analysis was performed to characterize student responses.

Results

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.

Conclusions

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.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25EB031389. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors also acknowledge the support of the biomedical engineering department at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and the STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25EB031389.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Nawshin Tabassum

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Steven Higbee & Sharon Miller

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  1. Nawshin Tabassum
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  2. Steven Higbee
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Correspondence to Sharon Miller.

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Conflict of interest

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors also acknowledge the support of the biomedical engineering department at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

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This work was approved by the Indiana University IRB: #2012065291.

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Students consented to participate in this study per the Indiana University IRB: #2012065291.

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Tabassum, N., Higbee, S. & Miller, S. A Qualitative Study of Biomedical Engineering Student Critical Reflection During Clinical Immersion Experiences. Biomed Eng Education 4, 15–31 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-023-00124-4

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