Exploring Student Experiences in a Transdisciplinary Clinical Immersion Course on Needs Identification in Veteran and Service Member Healthcare Settings

Background: As the number of BME clinical immersion experiences expands across university curricula, there is a growing opportunity for BME educators to share practical insights gained from implementing clinical immersion courses. Despite the growing scholarship exploring BME clinical immersions, a significant need for robust exploration remains as we work to understand the impact of such programs on student learning. Purpose: To address this gap, the purpose of this work is to describe the design, implementation, and assessment of a BME course focused on clinical immersions in Service Member and Veteran healthcare environments. Methods: We designed, implemented, and assessed student experiences in a new technical elective course in our undergraduate BME curriculum entitled Needs Identification in Healthcare. This paper analyzes data across the first three cohorts from students’ needs identification experiences, including working in transdisciplinary teams and immersion in Veteran and Service Member healthcare environments. The program structure is described with key elements that include (1) immersion partner collaboration, (2) team-based immersion experiences, (3) needs-finding emphasis, (4) team-based engineering design experiences, and (5) immersion assessment and evaluation. Techniques for student assessment include quantitative and qualitative survey items for investigating the program structure, complementary roles of engineers and designers, needs-finding ability, overall immersion experience, training content, faculty support, team effectiveness, self-reflection, and professional development. Results: Overall, students had a high appreciation for the clinical immersion experience and benefited from their participation in the course in terms of their ability to problem solve, identify healthcare-related needs of Veterans, communicate with patients and providers, and work effectively in transdisciplinary teams wherein complementary roles of engineers and designers are valued. Conclusion: Structured clinical immersion experiences that incorporate transdisciplinary teams and scoped healthcare environments promote student learning and professional development.