Researcher University of Arkansas Fayetteville, United States
Introduction:: Global health is an interdisciplinary field emphasizing international health issues, causes, and solutions based on cultural and global understanding. We have all witnessed how crucial global health is with the global COVID-19 crisis that has affected everyone. To effectively work to solve global health issues, people from different backgrounds must work together to complete a common goal. Before problem solving begins, gaining a basic understanding of cultural differences and collaborating with different people is an essential skill to have. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of study abroad experiences and international service-learning opportunities in promoting collaborations, cultural competency and personal development. Acknowledging the interdependence of our world, we have designed a “Biomedical Innovations for Global Impact” course that connects participating students with a global and local network of students, faculty, community partners, and mentors, and invites them to develop viable solutions to pressing health care or sanitation related challenges in different locations around the world. It is our hope that creating a global collaborative classroom environment will encourage students to develop cultural understanding in conjunction with the tools for product development. We wanted to foster a ‘global health’ environment in the classroom without taking the students abroad.
Materials and Methods:: The course focuses on specific problems triggered by healthcare challenges and gives students the opportunity to work creatively and with students from different countries and disciplines. The course is designed to include students from the United States, Panama, and India. Business and engineering professors instruct students on the importance of the design process during product development and how global health needs impact the process. All students are put on teams with a clinical advisor and consist of students from different majors. At the end of the semester, each interdisciplinary team will present their proposed solution to meet the targeted global health need.
The analysis collected qualitative and quantitative data through pre-course and post-course surveys administered using the Qualtrics system. Two 30-question surveys were used for data collection. The surveys collected qualitative data through short-answer questions focused on four themes: personal growth, professional development, educational experience, and cultural understanding. This data is collected at the beginning and end of the course to observe the growth the students experience throughout the semester. Quantitative data was collected with Likert scale questions focused on the four different categories to determine if the course outcomes met course expectations. Students representing three countries (Panama, India, and the US) participated in the study. Data collected from the survey was exported and graphed using GraphPad. For Likert questions, percentages of each response were calculated and grouped together by country to be graphed. All questions were grouped according to their associated category to draw conclusions.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: The surveys provided information about student feedback on their experience and knowledge gained in the course. It was intended to measure the students’ educational experience, professional development, personal growth, and cultural understanding.
The results of this study provide evidence on how effective project-based learning approaches are at addressing global healthcare needs through biomedical innovation and contribute to student learning. In our analysis of educational experience through Likert-scale survey questions, we noticed that all students, irrespective of their location, had similar responses for each survey question with no significant difference between the pre-course and post-course responses. This consistency indicates that the course objectives were fulfilled, and student expectations were met. The questions in the educational experience category gauged students' understanding of product development, implementation, viability, and scalability. Many of the students commented on learning about the financial and business models for product development as an important component of the course, indicating the usefulness of this component in helping students better develop low-cost sustainable solutions with potential for broad impact across diverse populations. With the guidance of this study, we will enrich the biomedical engineering curriculum and develop courses that promote empathy, solidarity, and transnational, multidisciplinary, multi-sector collaboration, making sure common problems are solved with common solutions.
The implementation of the Biomedical Innovations for Global Impact course is an example of how universities can collaborate across the globe for the benefit of learners in both universities and their respective communities. Both engineering and business students gained valuable understanding about their unique roles and built a network of peer learners and community support. Ultimately, different communities benefit from the collaborative efforts that empower social entrepreneurs to work together to design real-world solutions to pressing healthcare challenges. Overall, our study demonstrated the significant potential of collaborations across countries (India and the USA) to analyze opportunities to bring innovations to market, and possibly coordinate transnational efforts to implement and scale the development and impact of innovations to address pressing social issues.
Acknowledgements (Optional): : This work was supported with funding from the National Institute of Health NIH R25 grant1R25EB029377, and the Arkansas Department of Education SURF Grant. This study was reviewed by the University’s Institutional Review Board (protocol #: 2209420237A001) and was determined to be exempt.
