1 WIP: Developing Health Informatics Competency in Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students using Active Learning Approaches

Uri Feldman; George Ricco

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Biomedical Engineering Division Poster Session
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41840
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41840
Download Count: 297

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Paper Authors

biography

Uri Feldman Wentworth Institute of Technology

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Uri Feldman is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Feldman developed informatics metrics to quantify performance of clinicians when using digital diagnostic tools. He has published in Radiology, Academic Radiology, IS&T, SPIE, and RESNA. As a Latino and native Spanish speaker, born in Peru, Dr. Feldman has created markets and commercialized innovative telemedicine products in Latin America for medical device companies, including Orex Computed Radiography, Kodak Health Group, and ICRco. Dr. Feldman also served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program where he led the strategic planning and migration to EPIC Electronic Health Records system and novel meaningful use implementations through the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange. At Wentworth, Dr. Feldman is focused on project-based instruction, hands-on simulations, and experiential learning approaches. His research and teaching interests include telemedicine, health informatics, rehabilitation engineering, and medical robotics. Dr. Feldman has collaborated with researchers and engineers from organizations including Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Vecnacares, and Restoreskills.

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biography

George Ricco University of Indianapolis

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George D. Ricco received the B.S.E. degree in engineering physics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA, in 2002, the M.S. degree in physics and the M.S. degree in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA, in 2007 and 2008, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in engineering education from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, in 2013. He is the Director of First-Year Engineering and an Assistant Professor of Engineering with the University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA. Previously, he co-founded the first-year engineering program with the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA, and was the entrepreneurial coordinator in the School of Engineering at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA.

His work in MIDFIELD revolves around advanced statistical analysis and reexamining long-held tropes in educational statistics, focusing primarily on student major switching and introductory course inequities across colleges. He spends significant time outside of his studies working on election security issues and advocating for the rights of historically disenfranchised peoples.
Dr. Ricco is a member of ASEE, the Alpha Chi Sigma professional chemistry fraternity, and the National Lawyers Guild.

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Abstract

The field of health informatics has been advancing at a rapid pace, driven in large part by the proliferation of electronic health record systems, the growing use of medical and consumer health devices, and the massive amounts of data that these systems and devices generate. The principal focus of health informatics is on the interoperability of systems and devices and the data that they produce and exchange. This paper describes how health informatics competency was developed in undergraduate Biomedical Engineering education using active learning approaches.

Whereas several universities offer degree programs and graduate courses in health informatics, very few institutions offer courses in health informatics to undergraduate Biomedical Engineering (BME) students. BME programs, at many schools, typically train students in electronic circuits, sensors, clinical instrumentation, biomechanics, and signal processing and analysis. Beyond senior capstone courses, BME students do not get too many opportunities to integrate and apply the concepts and skills learned in such background areas.

Medical Informatics and Telemedicine, an elective course for Junior and Senior level BME students, has been offered at Wentworth Institute nine times in the past four years. The course consists of lectures, labs, and workshops, where students, individually or in groups, learn about and explore different aspects of health informatics. Active learning interventions used in the course build off real-world scenarios such as the role of telehealth in a Covid-19 world, and deployment of portable electronic health record systems after hurricane Ida in Louisiana. Students analyze the scenarios by applying their electronics, systems, and devices skills as well as by creating “end-to-end” diagrams and maps of the “patient” and “data journeys.” Along the way, they uncover important issues that need to be considered, such as data integrity, data availability, privacy, security, ethics, regulations, and social disparities. Students find that application and integration of all these concepts and health informatics issues, adds context and meaning to their learning.

Data from assessments and surveys conducted shows that the health informatics course provided context for the students to integrate their prior learning and increased their abilities to perform system level analysis of challenging health informatics scenarios. These results provide evidence that developing health informatics competency in undergraduate BME students using active learning approaches adds important skills and value to the student’s education.

Citation
Format

Feldman, U., & Ricco, G. (2022, August), 1 WIP: Developing Health Informatics Competency in Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students using Active Learning Approaches Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41840

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 
The field of health informatics has been advancing at a rapid pace, driven in large part by the proliferation of electronic health record systems, the growing use of medical and consumer health devices, and the massive amounts of data that these systems and devices generate. The principal focus of health informatics is on the interoperability of systems and devices and the data that they produce and exchange. This paper describes how health informatics competency was developed in undergraduate Biomedical Engineering education using active learning approaches. 

Whereas several universities offer degree programs and graduate courses in health informatics, very few institutions offer courses in health informatics to undergraduate Biomedical Engineering (BME) students. BME programs, at many schools, typically train students in electronic circuits, sensors, clinical instrumentation, biomechanics, and signal processing and analysis. Beyond senior capstone courses, BME students do not get too many opportunities to integrate and apply the concepts and skills learned in such background areas.

Medical Informatics and Telemedicine, an elective course for Junior and Senior level BME students, has been offered at Wentworth Institute nine times in the past four years. The course consists of lectures, labs, and workshops, where students, individually or in groups, learn about and explore different aspects of health informatics. Active learning interventions used in the course build off real-world scenarios such as the role of telehealth in a Covid-19 world, and deployment of portable electronic health record systems after hurricane Ida in Louisiana. Students analyze the scenarios by applying their electronics, systems, and devices skills as well as by creating “end-to-end” diagrams and maps of the “patient” and “data journeys.” Along the way, they uncover important issues that need to be considered, such as data integrity, data availability, privacy, security, ethics, regulations, and social disparities. Students find that application and integration of all these concepts and health informatics issues, adds context and meaning to their learning.

Data from assessments and surveys conducted shows that the health informatics course provided context for the students to integrate their prior learning and increased their abilities to perform system level analysis of challenging health informatics scenarios. These results provide evidence that developing health informatics competency in undergraduate BME students using active learning approaches adds important skills and value to the student’s education.

AU  - Uri Feldman
AU  - George Ricco
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - 1 WIP: Developing Health Informatics Competency in Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students using Active Learning Approaches
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41840
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41840
ER  -