Experts in Medical Computing: Designing a continuous education program with clinical relevance and industrial applicability

In this work-in-progress, we present the design and implementation of a novel higher education medical computing continuous program that addresses on-demand, relevant clinical and health-care industry needs. A consortium of computing science and engineering academics and researchers, entrepreneurship and industry representatives, and clinicians is jointly designing an ecosystem that channels relevant needs from medical, clinical, and industrial environments into requirements for medical computing academic training. The design of this interdisciplinary program adheres to participatory design principles. Here, we outline the motivation and demands of such program, the design of the program, the principles and practices planned and implemented, and we report on first implementation steps. Since the graduate programs of computing and engineering mostly provide broader education, the graduates from these programs lack relevant clinical perspectives, necessary to work in- and advance the domain of medical computing. Likewise, the graduates from clinical and medical programs are often missing up-to-date computing skills, essential to comprehend and manage the fast-developing industry of medical computing technology. By implementing the processes of funnelling industrial and clinical aspects, we ensure that the graduates are equipped with relevant knowledge, and become a part of germane networks. We also report on challenges, experience, and lessons learned.