Translational Team-based Training for Biomedical Engineers (T3-BME)

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3 Translational Team-Based Training for Biomedical Engineers (T -BME) ABSRACT: Integrative multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team-based design approach with a clinical immersion component and consideration of practical aspects of commercialization and spiraling health care costs can train biomedical engineers to design viable medical devices that meet patient needs while controlling the healthcare cost. Specific Aims of this proposal are: 1) Develop and deliver a multidisciplinary Biomedical Devices Development Course including a Clinical Immersion Component and 2) Enhancing Team-based Interdisciplinary Senior Design Project Experience in Biomedical Engineering Education. Innovative components of Specific Aim 1 of this proposal includes shifting from tradition of posing design problems for students to offering biomedical engineering students the opportunity, training and responsibility to identify real-world unmet clinical needs while working in a truly multidisciplinary team of students from the Schools of Nursing through a Biomedical Device Development Course. This course will offer lectures and trainings on responsible conduct of research, intellectual property and patenting, FDA and regulatory path and market analysis. Additional guest lectures from experts in the field will offer insight into the real world product development process. These lectures will be complemented with three industrial site visits to gain an understanding of work environment complexity. Clinical unmet needs will be identified at the five clinical immersion sites followed by two weeks of simulation lab training at the Center for Simulation and Computerized Testing located in Widener School of Nursing offering students hands-on experience of the clinical problem. Student success will be assessed through course assignments, an online discussion forum updating their weekly observation concluding with an oral poster presentation outlining an unmet clinical need and viable engineering solution for each clinical site. The top five proposed project ideas that are appropriate to meet time, cost and prototyping constraints of current design facilities and also ensure full buy-in from the clinician in order to provide direction and technical expertise will then be undertaken by some or all of these BME students as the two semester Capstone senior design project courses (ENGR 401/402), leading us into Specific Aim 2 of this proposed study. Additionally, engineering and nursing (Junior) students could pursue the proposed projects as part of the Widener Summer Research program, which is designed to promote undergraduate research experience at Widener University. Goals of Specific Aim 2 of this proposal are to (a) translate the unmet clinical needs into open-ended, interdisciplinary team- based senior design projects, and broaden students exposure and understanding of challenges that are specific to clinical environments (b) evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating clinically driven design projects into the senior design program. Through weekly interaction with the faculty advisor, students will follow the traditional senior design process including Phase 1: Understanding wants and constraints, benchmarking. Phase 2: Concept generation, Phase 3: Concept selection and Phase 4: Working prototype. A process map will be used to make sure of the timely completion of the project. Deliverables for each of the projects include a first semester design review presentation and a final design presentation followed by a final report and a working prototype in the second semester. Final presentation will include introduction, project goals, design and development, summary of work, progress, and future work. We hope that exposure to guided but open-ended challenges from clinical professionals will broaden the students’ understanding of clinical barrier and help them develop skills that will prepare them for successful careers in biomedical engineering. Demographic data and student surveys/interviews in both courses will be assessed yearly by the PIs and the External Advisory Board to ensure diversity, recruitment, student retention and attainment of the program goals.