Clinicum Digitale: Interim Report of an Interprofessional Course to Shape Digital Health Pioneers

Digital Health is hindered by a lack of interdisciplinary exchange between medicine and technology. To advance the field it is necessary to train a new generation of young scientists that help reduce the backlog in medical technology and bridge the gap between technical innovations and patients. The Clinicum Digitale is pilot course in which students of medicine, engineering and computer science are taught together with the aim of acquiring not only transdisciplinary knowledge but also the necessary soft skills for an interdisciplinary exchange. Evaluation of the student cohort of 2023 identified interest in interdisciplinary applications (90 %), new medical technologies (85 %) and interdisciplinary learning (60 %) as main motivators for the participation. Students reported higher self-perceived knowledge in previously non-familiar subjects and high appreciation of interprofessional learning groups. In combination with individual success stories from previous participants, these results indicate that the Clinicum Digitale can help bridge the gap between medicine and technology.