Meet Shelby Johnson, Biomedical Engineering student, from Paris, Arkansas. She took Dr. Jensen’s service learning course BMEG 470V: Clinical Needs Findings for the first time in fall 2018. According to […]
Photo credit: Shelby Johnson
Meet Shelby Johnson, Biomedical Engineering student, from Paris, Arkansas. She took Dr. Jensen’s service learning course BMEG 470V: Clinical Needs Findings for the first time in fall 2018.
According to Shelby, this learning experience allows students to shadow clinicians while they did their job and could talk to patients about their medical experience. This experience allowed her to reconsider where she wanted to go from here career-wise and she is now interested in continuing to graduate school for a career in a more clinical setting.
Dr. Jensen’s class was made to determine problems in the clinic setting that students can help to improve. Shelby was observing an older patient who recently had a hip replacement and it was inspiring to see his will power to heal and recover. The support he received from his physical therapist was inspiring as well. She was able to develop an innovation for the UAMS Outpatient Therapy Clinic which is a mobile app for patients to use for doing their exercises and regulated by physical therapists. She has now continued the project onto Senior Design and will be working the clinic for the next year developing the app.
Shelby’s biggest take on this course was it is a successful class that prepares Biomedical Engineering students for Senior Design. The biggest benefits of the service learning courses include the ability for you to invent and experience in clinics.
Her number one piece of advice you would offer to a future service-learning student is: “Ask every question possible, no matter how simple or complex it might be. The clinicians are experts at what they do, and they know what could be improved or they might lead you to an idea through questions.”