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Board 19: Work in Progress: Integrating Ethics Education across the Biomedical Engineering Curriculum Increases Student Awareness of Frameworks and Broader Applications to Practice

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Biomedical Engineering Division (BED) Poster Session

Tagged Division

Biomedical Engineering Division (BED)

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42571

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42571

Download Count

160

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Paper Authors

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Joshua Robert Chan

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Elizabeth Kathleen Bucholz Duke University

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Dr. Bucholz is an Assistant Professor of the Practice for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and has served as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Pratt School of Eng

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biography

Cameron Michael Kim Duke University

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Cameron Kim is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and serves as the Associate Director for Undergraduate Education. He is researching the role of ethics-guided design frameworks in the classroom for emergent biotechnologies, including gene and cell-based therapies. His education development in molecular engineering and biotechnology results from 10 years in developing protein and RNA-based control systems for mammalian synthetic biology applications. He also serves as the faculty advisor for the Duke International Genetically Engineered Machine undergraduate research group.

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Abstract

The intersection of human health and designing novel technologies that improve medical outcomes requires personal and professional introspection on the ethical dilemmas that clinicians and engineers will face in their careers. Given the diverse field of biomedical engineering, from imaging modalities to implantable devices to emergent biotechnologies, no singular approach to ethics training will prepare our students to assess their professional obligation to the ethical, social, and legal implications of their future work. Many engineering programs provide students with early modules in engineering ethics during first-year gateway courses before reaching technical proficiency in biomedical engineering. Another strategy to incorporate ethics into the curriculum focuses on senior capstone courses with an emphasis on designing for clients and diverse stakeholders, but this approach lacks the appropriate scaffolding of ethical principles applied to engineering problems that mirrors scaffolded technical content. Accepting the broad nature of a biomedical engineering degree, we aim to engage undergraduate students in gaining proficiency and efficacy in incorporating ethical inquiry into technical knowledge that improves student engagement with course content and allows critical reflection on technical challenges for their future careers. We believe that an iterative “ethics everywhere” approach to engineering education supports students in their development and scaffolds important ethical principles in identifying ethical dilemmas and will provide value in their prospective careers.

In the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate curriculum at XXX University, we have integrated topic-specific ethics modules across all levels- beginning their freshmen year with an introductory design course, continuing through three sophomore (200-level) courses, three junior (300-level) courses, and all senior design (400-level) courses. The selected courses cover breadth in the biomedical engineering field, including biomaterials, medical instrumentation, biological modeling, imaging, and biotechnology. Topics of ethical inquiry include foundational bioethics frameworks in autonomy, justice, and beneficence; virtue ethics; ethical sourcing of materials; risk analyses of medical technologies; and fairness in healthcare costs. We have developed reflection assignments on student perception of ethics in biomedical engineering that reflect increased self-efficacy and comfort with ethical inquiry. Assessments on stakeholders and perceived risk during senior design courses indicate growth in applying case studies from previous biomedical technologies to identify potential ethical dilemmas in developing and deploying a new technology. Future work will measure student self-efficacy across the BME curriculum and post-graduation in longitudinal studies on preparation for ethical decision making as professional engineers.

Chan, J. R., & Bucholz, E. K., & Kim, C. M. (2023, June), Board 19: Work in Progress: Integrating Ethics Education across the Biomedical Engineering Curriculum Increases Student Awareness of Frameworks and Broader Applications to Practice Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42571

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