Clinical Experience in a Medicine-Engineering Interprofessional Education Program: A Qualitative Evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Interprofessional Education
• Medical Innovation
• Health Informatics

Background:

• The Health-Technology-Engineering (HTE) program is an interprofessional PhD/MD educational initiative.
• Students in the HTE program complete the Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) course.
• The ICM course aims to develop communication skills and identify healthcare challenges addressable by technological innovation.

Purpose of the Study:

• This study evaluated the HTE-ICM program.
• The evaluation focused on understanding interdisciplinary perceptions within the program.

Main Methods:

• Five focus groups were conducted with students and faculty.
• Interviews were professionally transcribed and analyzed using grounded theory.
• Participants were asked about motivation, course satisfaction, challenges, and success measures.

Main Results:

• 21 students and 9 faculty participated.
• Key themes included motivation to collaborate and satisfaction with cross-disciplinary exposure.
• Building long-lasting partnerships was identified as a success measure.
• Time constraints were the primary challenge.
• Opportunities for improvement included peer-mentoring, faculty development, and refining patient encounter utilization for engineering solutions.

Conclusions:

• Qualitative analysis revealed benefits and areas for improvement in the HTE-ICM program.
• Findings can enhance the current program and inform the development of similar initiatives.
• The study highlights the value of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare innovation.