Perspectives on Bioengineering Clinical Immersion: History, Innovation, and Impact.
Opportunities to provide clinical immersion experiences to bioengineering undergraduate students have expanded over the last several years. These programs allow students to observe the clinical environment in order to better understand workflow processes, the context in which medical equipment is used, and identify unmet needs firsthand. While each program focuses on identifying unmet needs, these experiences vary in content and implementation. Here we discuss features of clinical immersion programs, share details of our program after six years, and present data regarding post-graduation employment of our participants. Students who participated in the University of Illinois at Chicago Clinical Immersion Program are not more likely to pursue careers in industry as compared to non-participants, nor do they demonstrate an ability to find a job more quickly than non-participants. However, participants who did enter into industry self-reported that the program was impactful to both their career interests and ability to find their first employment position.
['Kotche|Miiri|M|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0474-4176', 'Felder|Anthony E|AE|', 'Wilkens|Kimberlee|K|', 'Stirling|Susan|S|']
D001698:Biomedical Engineering D004517:Education, Professional D049674:History, 21st Century D006801:Humans D007087:Illinois D013334:Students D014495:Universities
Bioengineering Clinical immersion Undergraduate Biomedical engineering Education Needs identification