1. Enhanced Design Experiences for Duke BME Students
George A. Truskey
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University

2. Current Situation – Several distinct and non-interacting activities
Students select from a suite of one-semester design courses covering a range of topics
Students may also take BME 120 to learn about developing a successful business plan
Co-curricular activities such as Duke Start-Up challenge and DuHatch
No exposure to idea generation and needs finding

3. Goal
Create an enhanced and integrated design experience so that students are involved in all aspects of the design process including clinical needs finding and validation, project identification and definition, design, prototyping and early stage translation

4. Specific Aims Create a course on Biomedical Device Innovation
Establish a Clinical Needs Finding Practicum
Offer expanded design sequence
Integrate BME design experience with curricular and co-curricular activities in technology translation and entrepreneurship

5. 1. Create a course on Biomedical Device Innovation
Introduced in Spring 2011 for undergraduates and Fall 2011 for masters students.
Students work in teams
(a) literature review and immersion in a
medical specialty area
(b) needs specification, regulatory and
legal issue assessment, prioritization,
and conceptual design
(c) comprehensive plan for detailed design

6. 2. Establish A Clinical Needs Finding Practicum
Two teams of four students
One week of introductory material
Two clinical rotations from list of four
Develop list of needs and discuss top 3 needs
Present work to BME and Medical Center faculty
mediasite02.win.duke.edu/prattdl/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx? peid=bbc8fbea6e aade44216cbfe
Team leaders spent an additional two weeks refining needs.

7. Clinical Practicum Four experiences Observed procedures
Mechanical cardiovascular assist devices
Neuroradiology
Ophthalmic surgery
Physical therapy
Observed procedures
Met with physicians, residents, staff and engineers
Established criteria to filter and state needs
Identified 124 needs
Challenge – identifying needs w/o bias towards solution

8. Lessons Learned
Students and clinical faculty were extremely enthusiastic about program
Establish closer interactions with Surgery
Identified needs used in design courses, biomedical device innovation course, and business development course
Issues to examine
Integrating needs finding with design courses
Balance between future needs identification and further developing needs identified
One or two clinical experiences
Providing depth in Biomedical Device Innovation Course

9. Going Forward Present summary of program to date to advisory board
Begin work on Aims 3 and 4
Develop an organized program for undergraduates and masters students integrating innovation and design

10. Acknowledgments NIH R25 EB013127
Clinical mentors: James Provenzale, MD; Michael Richard, MD; Joseph Rogers, MD; Kathy Shipp, PhD
Andrew DiMeo, NCSU
Bob Barnes, PhD
Ricardo Pietrobon, MD, MBA
The students