Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
specifications and were not maintained in accordance with manufacturers' recommendations.
In short, electrical safety problems were only the tip of the iceberg. By the mid-1970s, com-
plete performance inspections before and after equipment use became the norm, and sensible
inspection procedures were developed. In the process, these clinical engineering pioneers
began to play a more substantial role within the hospital. As new members of the hospital
team, they did the following:
Became actively involved in developing cost-effective approaches for using medical
technology
Provided hospital administrators with advice regarding the purchase of medical
equipment based on their ability to meet specific technical specifications
Started using modern scientific methods and working with standards-writing
organizations
Became involved in the training of health care personnel regarding the safe and efficient
use of medical equipment
Then, during the 1970s and 1980s, a major expansion of clinical engineering occurred,
primarily due to the following events:
The Veterans Administration (VA), convinced that clinical engineers were vital to the
overall operation of the VA hospital system, divided the country into biomedical
engineering districts, with a chief biomedical engineer overseeing all engineering
activities in the hospitals in that district.
Throughout the United States, clinical engineering departments were established in most
large medical centers and hospitals and in some smaller clinical facilities with at least
three hundred beds.
Health care professionals—physicians and nurses—needed assistance in utilizing
existing technology and incorporating new innovations.
Certification of clinical engineers became a reality to ensure the continued competence of
practicing clinical engineers.
During the 1990s, the evaluation of clinical engineering as a profession continued with the
establishment of the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE) and the Clinical Engi-
neering Division within the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering
(IFMBE). Clinical engineers today provide extensive engineering services for the clinical staff
and serve as a significant resource for the entire hospital (Figure 1.10). Possessing in-depth
knowledge regarding available in-house technological capabilities as well as the technical
resources available from outside firms, the modern clinical engineer enables the hospital to
make effective and efficient use of most if not all of its technological resources.
Biomedical engineering is thus an interdisciplinary branch of engineering heavily based
in both engineering and the life sciences. It ranges from theoretical, nonexperimental under-
takings to state-of-the-art applications. It can encompass research, development, implemen-
tation, and operation. Accordingly, like medical practice itself, it is unlikely that any single
person can acquire expertise that encompasses the entire field. As a result, there has been
an explosion of biomedical engineering specialties to cover this broad field. Yet, because
of the interdisciplinary nature of this activity, there are considerable interplay and overlap-
ping of interest and effort between them. For example, biomedical engineers engaged in the
