RESUMO
Many undergraduate educational experiences in biomedical design lack clinical immersion-based needs finding training for students. Convinced of the merits of this type of training for undergraduates, but unable to offer a quarter-long course due to faculty and administrative constraints, we developed an accelerated block-plan course, during which students were dedicated solely to our class for 3 weeks. The course focused on the earliest stages of the health technology innovation process-conducting effective clinical observations and performing comprehensive need research and screening. We grounded the course in experiential learning theory (with hands-on, collaborative, and immersive experiences) and constructivist learning theory (where students integrated prior knowledge with new material on need-driven innovation). This paper describes the design of this intensive block-plan course and the teaching methods intended to support the achievement of five learning objectives. We used pre- and post-course surveys to gather self-reported data about the effect of the course on student learning. Despite the accelerated format, we saw statistically significant gains for all but one sub-measure across the learning objectives. Our experience supports key benefits of the block-plan model, and the results indicate that specific course design choices were effective in achieving positive learning outcomes. These design decisions include (1) opportunities for students to practice observations before entering the clinical setting; (2) a framework for the curriculum that reinforced important concepts iteratively throughout the program; (3) balanced coverage of preparation, clinical immersion, and need research; (4) extensive faculty and peer coaching; and (5) providing hands-on prototyping opportunities while staying focused on need characterization rather than solution development. Based on our experience, we expect that this model is replicable across institutions with limited bandwidth to support clinical immersion opportunities.
RESUMO
To support the next generation of healthcare innovators - whether they be engineers, designers, clinicians, or business experts by training - education in the emerging field of medical innovation should be made easily and widely accessible to undergraduate students, graduate students, and young professionals, early in their careers. Currently, medical innovation curricula are taught through semester-long courses or year-long fellowships at a handful of universities, reaching only a limited demographic of participants. This study describes the structure and preliminary outcomes of a 1-2 week "extended hackathon" course that seeks to make medical innovation education and training more accessible and easily adoptable for academic medical centers. Eight extended hackathons were hosted in five international locations reaching 245 participants: Beijing (June 2015 and August 2016), Hong Kong (June 2016, 2017, and 2018), Curitiba (July 2016), Stanford (October 2017), and São Paulo (May 2018). Pre- and post-hackathon surveys asking respondents to self-assess their knowledge in ten categories of medical innovation were administered to quantify the perceived degree of learning. Participants hailed from a diverse range of educational backgrounds, domains of expertise, and academic institutions. On average, respondents (n = 161) saw a greater than twofold increase (114.1%, P < 0.001) from their pre- to post-hackathon scores. In this study, the extended hackathon is presented as a novel educational model to teach undergraduate and graduate students a foundational skillset for medical innovation. Participants reported gaining significant knowledge across all ten categories assessed. To more robustly assess the educational value of extended hackathons, a standardized assessment for medical innovation knowledge needs to be developed, and a larger sample size of participants surveyed.