Organization and Function of a Hospital Biomedical Engineering Internship Program

This paper describes the development of an internship program between St. Vincent Hospital (SVH), a large community teaching hospital, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a school of engineering. The primary objective of the internship program is the education of the student through problem solving in the hospital environment under close faculty-physician supervision. WPI receives an expanded educational base, and SVH receives a diversified base of technical assistance. During the last three years of operation 70 students, 12 faculty, and 15 hospital project advisors have worked together on 29 different student projects. The organization and operation of the internship program are presented, and the essential features leading to its success are analyzed.