Engineering students get hands-on training

In an increasingly competitive job market, students from the School of Engineering and Applied Science are looking to stay ahead by combining their textbook knowledge with hands-on experience in the medical field.

“Clinical Preceptorship in Bioengineering,” which was piloted in 1999 by Engineering professor David Eckmann, gives students the opportunity to engage in a 10-week preceptorship, where they are paired with practicing clinicians in the field.

The class exposes students to a wide variety of topics from orthopedic biomechanics to the use of information systems within the medical field.

The class, which often fills up during advance registration, enrolls about 60 Engineering students each year.

After six weeks in the course, students visit the Measey Surgical Skills Suite in the Perelman School of Medicine to learn about the benefits of simulation training for medical students and practicing doctors. Students use simulation robots or virtual simulations to practice surgical procedures without having to work on an actual body.

The series of 12 to 14 lectures are given by internationally recognized clinical scientists, who speak about their areas of expertise, Eckmann said.

In addition to everyday assignments such as papers and PowerPoint presentations, students are paired up with a clinical preceptor from either the Medical School, the School of Dental Medicine or the School of Veterinary Medicine. Preceptors challenge students to engage in an intellectual project that applies engineering to the healthcare industry’s needs.

“The scope of the course is intended to stimulate students to think about clinical medicine and bioengineering,” Eckmann explained.

“We put students at the cutting edge of biomedicine through advancing engineering,” he added.

Eckmann was quick to add that the preceptorship is not intended to be a simple shadowing experience. Instead, students are expected to fully engage and actively participate in problem-solving strategies. At the end of the semester, preceptors issue grades for the students based on their enthusiasm and participation.

In her preceptorship, Engineering senior Rebecca Margolies worked in the Center for Resuscitation Science to find ways to minimize damage caused by cardiac arrest.

Margolies and her partner researched equipment needed for their preceptor to study the flow of blood to a patient’s brain.

“I was most interested in [the course] because I could tell it was so application-based. A lot of classes are theory-based, and this was a class where you went out and did something,” Margolies said.

Engineering senior Zachary Ellis helped fund the development of a “smart” stethoscope — one that can record heartbeats and transmit them to a computer — by developing a cost-saving model in his preceptorship.

“I loved the course,” Ellis said. It’s a course that I would recommend to anyone interested in starting their own business or working in the medical field.”

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