Clinical Engineering according to the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), a Clinical Engineer is “a professional who supports and advances patient care by applying engineering and managerial skills to healthcare technology.” This profession is recognized by the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) as well.
Many hospitals use the terms clinical and biomedical engineering interchangeably. The difference between the two roles is that biomedical engineers are more all-encompassing and work with the design of medical devices while clinical engineers specifically work in the day-to-day operations of a hospital, interacting with the technology, patients, and problem-solving implementation and operations.
Clinical Engineers in management roles are often certified with recognized project management and risk management expertise. This helps to ensure the best outcome and management of healthcare and medical facility project implementations.
Clinical engineering is a specialty within HTM (Healthcare Technology Management) biomedical engineering is responsible primarily for applying and implementing medical technology to optimize healthcare delivery. Roles of clinical engineers include training and supervising biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), working with governmental regulators on hospital inspections/audits, and serving as technological consultants for other hospital staff (i.e. physicians, administrators, IT, etc.). Clinical engineers also advise medical device producers regarding prospective design improvements based on clinical experiences, as well as monitor the progression of the state-of-the-art and best industry standards in order to redirect hospital procurement patterns accordingly. T
An experienced Clinical Engineer deals on a daily basis with many suppliers and many different areas of responsibility across a large range of products. Clinical Engineers also have a very good general and basic knowledge of other areas or importance in a facility (e.g. general overview of power, flooring, water, gas, HVAC) and other critical areas that may be a grey area to some. Clinical Engineers should also have contacts in the industry if a particular area of expertise not his core competency will be required. This would include workflows and consumables, durable, service delivery, latest technology, interfacing, medical IT, supplier credibility and sources of information are also well known to him.
A Clinical Engineer has specific and overview of services and devices and is needed to support the construction of healthcare facilities and it is his function using his expertise to interact advise and provide the necessary information to building contractors and architects to ensure a successful design,placement, procurement implementation and operation of such a facility regarding medical devices.
A Clinical Engineer that is certified with a recognized professional body (SAFHE or CEASA) is advisable. It would also be advantageous for the Clinical Engineer to have be certified in Project Management and associated latest project related skills. These certifications will bolster his medical devices expertise in ensuring all approaches and work carried out is in an efficient manner and will be as close as to on time and on budget as possible.
I am available for comment re the services and expertise Clinical Engineers can provide and I am well connected and experienced in the general medical devices imaging and IT field regarding planning design procurement and long term operations and life cycle aspects of healthcare management.