Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In the industrialized nations, technological innovation has progressed at such an acceler-
ated pace that it has permeated almost every facet of our lives. This is especially true in
the area of medicine and the delivery of health care services. Although the art of medicine
has a long history, the evolution of a technologically based health care system capable of
providing a wide range of effective diagnostic and therapeutic treatments is a relatively
new phenomenon. Of particular importance in this evolutionary process has been the estab-
lishment of the modern hospital as the center of a technologically sophisticated health care
system.
Since technology has had such a dramatic impact on medical care, engineering profes-
sionals have become intimately involved in many medical ventures. As a result, the disci-
pline of
has emerged as an integrating medium for two dynamic
professions—medicine and engineering—and has assisted in the struggle against illness
and disease by providing tools (such as biosensors, biomaterials, image processing, and
artificial intelligence) that health care professionals can use for research, diagnosis, and
treatment.
Thus, biomedical engineers serve as relatively new members of the health care delivery
team that seeks new solutions for the difficult problems confronting modern society. The
purpose of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of technology's role in shaping
our modern health care system, highlight the basic roles biomedical engineers play, and
present a view of the professional status of this dynamic field.
biomedical engineering
1.1 THE
EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN HEALTH CARE
SYSTEM
Primitive humans considered diseases to be “visitations”—the whimsical acts of affronted
gods or spirits. As a result, medical practice was the domain of the witch doctor and the
medicine man and medicine woman. Yet even as magic became an integral part of the heal-
ing process, the cult and the art of these early practitioners were never entirely limited to
the supernatural. Using their natural instincts and learning from experience, these indivi-
duals developed a primitive science based upon empirical laws. For example, through
acquisition and coding of certain reliable practices, the arts of herb doctoring, bone setting,
surgery, and midwifery were advanced. Just as primitive humans learned from observation
that certain plants and grains were good to eat and could be cultivated, the healers and
shamans observed the nature of certain illnesses and then passed on their experiences to
other generations.
Evidence indicates that the primitive healer took an active, rather than simply intuitive,
interest in the curative arts, acting as a surgeon and a user of tools. For instance, skulls with
holes made in them by trephiners have been collected in various parts of Europe, Asia, and
South America. These holes were cut out of the bone with flint instruments to gain access to
the brain. Although one can only speculate the purpose of these early surgical operations,
magic and religious beliefs seem to be the most likely reasons. Perhaps this procedure
liberated from the skull the malicious demons that were thought to be the cause of extreme
pain (as in the case of migraines) or attacks of falling to the ground (as in epilepsy). That
this procedure was carried out on living patients, some of whom actually survived, is
