BACKGROUND: The goal of interprofessional practice experiences in health professions programs is to develop interprofessional collaborative practice skills.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to explore the meaning final-semester Bachelor of Science in Nursing students attributed to interprofessional practice experiences during clinical immersion.
METHODS: The theoretical framework for this descriptive qualitative study was experiential learning theory. A sample of 12 participants was drawn from final-semester prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at a college of nursing at a public research university. Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews and analyzed through inductive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: The analysis yielded four themes: professional and interprofessional identity, working with team members, communication practices, and trusting relationships. Patterns across themes were clinical environment culture, nursing school preparation, nurse preceptor role, fear/concern/worry, and night shift.
CONCLUSIONS: Consistency in preceptors, welcoming clinical environments, and opportunities to practice communicating with team members contributed to interprofessional collaborative practice skill development and improved perceptions of readiness for practice. Academic and clinical educators may use findings to (a) identify immersion placements for interprofessional practice experiences, (b) design curricula reflective of interprofessional practice, (c) advance teaching strategies to promote interprofessional practice, and (d) create learning environments that aid in professional and interprofessional identity formation.

UNASSIGNED: Clinical immersion experiences provide engineering students with opportunities to identify unmet user needs and to interact with clinical professionals. These experiences have become common features of undergraduate biomedical engineering curricula, with many published examples in the literature. There are, however, few or no published studies that describe rigorous qualitative analysis of biomedical engineering student reflections from immersion programs.
UNASSIGNED: Fifteen reflection prompts that align with program learning goals were developed and structured based on the DEAL model for critical reflection. Undergraduate participants in a summer immersion program responded to these prompts throughout five weeks of clinical rotations. Data from two summer cohorts of participants (n = 20) were collected, and thematic analysis was performed to characterize student responses.
UNASSIGNED: Students reported learning about key healthcare topics, such as medical insurance, access to healthcare (and lack thereof), stakeholder perspectives, and key medical terminology and knowledge. Most reflections also noted that students could apply newly gained medical knowledge to biomedical engineering design. Further, clinical immersion provided students with a realistic view of the biomedical engineering profession and potential areas for future professional growth, with many reflections identifying the ability to communicate with a variety of professionals as key to student training. Some students reflected on conversations with patients, noting that these interactions reinvigorated their passion for the biomedical engineering field. Finally, 63% of student reflections identified instances in which patients of low socioeconomic status were disadvantaged in health care settings.
UNASSIGNED: Clinical immersion programs can help close the gap between academic learning and the practical experience demands of the field, as design skills and product development experience are becoming increasingly necessary for biomedical engineers. Our work initiates efforts toward more rigorous analysis of students\' reactions and experiences, particularly around socioeconomic and demographic factors, which may provide guidance for continuous improvement and development of clinical experiences for biomedical engineers.

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.

Immersion experiences for undergraduate students in biomedical engineering are key contributors to their ability to identify medical needs. Despite this, as few as 25% of surveyed programs report providing such opportunities. Since 2010 when the National Institute of Health began its R25 grant mechanism to support curricular development toward team-based design, several institutions have established programs for immersion experiences, which provide precedent for their implementation. Published results from such immersion experiences highlight successes in structure and changes in student perspectives after these experiences. As more institutions expand their biomedical engineering curriculum with new immersion-focused programs, it is important to learn from these precedents while also considering opportunities to improve. For newly funded groups that are developing and implementing programs, they may find improved success by strategic use of unique partnerships. However, these partnerships may not be immediately evident to program organizers. Our objective is to discuss two institutions that recently established programs for immersion experience. In the comparison of our two immersion programs, we found five overlapping core features that include: immersion partner collaboration, team-based immersion experiences, needs-finding emphasis, team-based engineering design experiences, and immersion assessment and evaluation. Both programs developed collaborative partnerships with nearby medical schools. Additionally, one program partnered with a community resource (i.e., Human Development Institute). Despite nuanced program differences, we found that students at both programs self-reported increased knowledge or confidence in aspects of the design process (e.g., identifying and refining user needs, concept generation). Our results also highlight student gains unique to their programs - UK students self-reported gains on disability topics and IUPUI students self-reported gains on socioeconomic awareness. In summary, immersion partner collaboration, or partnership, surfaced as a core feature for both programs, and students in both immersion programs endorsed enhanced knowledge or confidence in engineering design.

Many biomedical engineering degree programs lack substantial immersive clinical experiences for undergraduate students, creating a need for clinical immersion programs that contribute to training objectives that emphasize current clinical needs (Becker in Eur J Eng Educ 31:261-272, 2006; Davis et al. in J Eng Educ 91:211-221, 2002; Dym et al. in J Eng Educ 94:103-120, 2005). Immersive clinical experiences have the potential to bridge the gap between clinical and non-clinical learning objectives in biomedical engineering curriculum. In collaboration with Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital, we have created, executed, and evaluated a two-week cardiovascular clinical immersion program for biomedical engineering undergraduate students at Purdue University. As of August 2022, this program has run 11 times since 2014 with 60 participants to date, exposing students to intensive and non-intensive care environments, facilitating interactions with medical professionals, and encouraging exploration of innovative technologies shaping the training of clinicians with direct patient interaction. The variety of cardiovascular topics discussed and clinical settings observed has provided students with a unique, highly beneficial learning opportunity. Keys to the continued success and growth of similar programs include: recruiting a diverse team, support from administrative staff/clinicians, a funded student intern position, and careful consideration of liability/risk management. Areas of future consideration include, streamlining the order of scheduled events, determining if offering course credit would be beneficial to students, and tracking career trajectories after participations.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare professions are ever challenged to meet the demands of a global aging society. Educators across the helping professions continuously explore ways to motivate students\' interest in caring for older adults. Given new undergraduate nursing curriculum changes, increased demand for creative outpatient educational opportunities for clinical gerontological experiences has put tremendous urgency on all healthcare stakeholders.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze students\' perceptions of clinical experiences at the Robust Aging Program clinic, a community wellness outpatient senior center.
METHODS: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, exploring students\' perspectives on whether they would consider gerontology/geriatrics-related careers.
METHODS: University extension senior clinic, serving Osher Lifelong Learning Center members who attend the Robust Aging Program, a School of Nursing community service.
METHODS: IRB-approved semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone and Zoom within a year of clinic experience. Preset questions centered on students\' clinic experiences. Trained research assistants working under the guidance of a qualitative researcher collected and analyzed and categorized common and emergent themes.
METHODS: 13 undergraduate nursing students who volunteered in the clinic in current or previous semesters. Students were about to graduate or new alumni; working nurses came from different specialties, including pediatrics.
RESULTS: Clinical immersion in a nurse-led senior wellness clinic that entailed close interactions with robustly aging adults increased students\' knowledge and skills and their willingness to work with the aged. Mentorship was noted as a key emergent theme.
CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to community outpatient clinical experiences can spark interest in working with older adults. This is especially true of advanced practice nurse-led wellness clinics where students receive mentorship and are empowered to exercise holistic care. Further research is needed to determine educators\', clinicians\', and administrators\' roles in sustaining students\' interest in gerontology-related careers.

This study explored virtual reality (VR) as an educational tool to offer immersive and experiential learning environments to biomedical engineering (BME) students. VR and traditional two-dimensional (2D) videos were created and used to teach required communication skills to BME students\' while working with clinical partners in healthcare settings. The videos of interdisciplinary teams (engineering and nursing students) tackling medical device-related problems, similar to those commonly observed in healthcare settings, were shown to BME students. Student surveys indicated that, through VR videos, they felt more immersed in real-world clinical scenarios while learning about the clinical problems, each team-member\'s areas of expertise, their roles and responsibilities, and how an interdisciplinary team operated collectively to solve a problem in the presented settings. Students with a prior in-person immersion experience, in the presented settings, reported VR videos to serve as a possible alternative to in-person immersion and a useful tool for their preparedness for real-world clinical immersion. We concluded that VR holds promise as an educational tool to offer simulated clinical scenarios that are effective in training BME students for interprofessional collaborations.

Opportunities to provide clinical immersion experiences to bioengineering undergraduate students have expanded over the last several years. These programs allow students to observe the clinical environment in order to better understand workflow processes, the context in which medical equipment is used, and identify unmet needs firsthand. While each program focuses on identifying unmet needs, these experiences vary in content and implementation. Here we discuss features of clinical immersion programs, share details of our program after six years, and present data regarding post-graduation employment of our participants. Students who participated in the University of Illinois at Chicago Clinical Immersion Program are not more likely to pursue careers in industry as compared to non-participants, nor do they demonstrate an ability to find a job more quickly than non-participants. However, participants who did enter into industry self-reported that the program was impactful to both their career interests and ability to find their first employment position.

Health care organizations have tasked nursing education leaders with increasing enrollment and graduating nursing students ready to practice. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the effect of a perioperative clinical immersion on the perceptions of readiness for practice held by senior students working toward a bachelor of science in nursing. Seven senior nursing students participated in the perioperative clinical immersion at one midwestern university. At the end of the immersion, the students participated in an interview that was designed to capture their perceptions of the program. We performed data analysis and identified recurring key words that were evaluated further as attributes of critical thinking, skill competency, and role socialization. The data analysis revealed the students\' perceptions of growth and readiness for practice. We found that a perioperative clinical immersion provides senior nursing students with an opportunity for professional growth and possible employment in the perioperative area.

Clinical immersion is a method used by various academic programs to narrow the theory-to-practice gap and assist students to transition from school to a new work environment. In the clinical immersion model, students embark upon a concentrated and intensive clinical experience, typically at the end of a semester or program. This literature review explored the various methods by which programs carry out the immersion clinical experience model and if the experience improved students\' readiness for entry level positions. Findings from students, faculty, and preceptors showed that immersion experiences are successful in increasing student confidence and nursing skills; however, additional objective evidence is needed to show that the use of immersion experiences can improve graduate readiness for practice. Research is also needed to explore if any differences in student performance outcomes exist between clinical immersion at the end of each semester versus one in a capstone course.