Biomedical Engineering Education Research Articles

US $30 million funding boost for biomedical engineering

The Whitaker foundation was set up almost 25 years ago with a bequest from its founder, Uncas A. Whitaker, an electrical engineer and philanthropist who supported collaboration between engineers and physicians. Such collaborations have resulted in the development of artificial joints, imaging systems, and drug-delivery systems, among many others.‘Biomedical engineering was a major area of interest for the founder’, says Frank Blanchard, Director of Communications, Whitaker Foundation (Arlington, VA, USA). The foundation will continue to support biomedical engineering until 2006, when it will be wound up. So far, it has awarded more than US $380 million to institutions involved in biomedical engineering research and education. The aim of the Leadership Award scheme is to develop biomedical engineering infrastructure at US universities. For more information, see their web site at: http://www.whitaker.org/

Biomedical Engineering Education in Canada, 1996

This paper updates the information contained in a previously published paper, ¿Bioengineering Education in Canada, 1988,¿ which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Engineering (Volume 13, No. 5). It describes the current biomedical engineering and biomedical engineering technology programs available in Canada, but does not attempt to evaluate them. There are no undergraduate degree programs specifically in biomedical engineering, although three universities have created options in biomedical engineering in undergraduate programs. Also, the clinical engineering program at the University of British Columbia has been discontinued.

Biomedical engineering--education & industry: an Australian perspective.

Biomedical Engineering education requires a multidisciplinary approach. To achieve satisfactory results from biomedical undergraduate courses, the development of longer programmes incorporating the life sciences and formal hospital or scientific and medical industry-based clinical experience programmes is needed. The B.Sc./B.E. five-year, combined-degree satisfies these requirements. Undergraduate programmes should be supported by parallel postgraduate programmes. A postgraduate engineering master's programme, by coursework and minor thesis, formulated in collaboration with professional groups and designed to be presented within a hospital or scientific medical industry environment, is required by industry. These education programmes need to be supported by a research (Ph.D and engineering master's with major thesis), hospital and industry infrastructure, which may take the form of a "Centre for Biomedical Engineering."

Technology assessment and biomedical engineering education.

Technology assessment is research that is intended to help decisionmakers deal with the development, acquisition and utilisation of healthcare technologies. Healthcare professionals now recognise the need for assessment information in decisionmaking. Among these professionals are biomedical and clinical engineers who need to manage technology assessment activities and use assessment information appropriately. It is imperative therefore that proper educational programmes be developed to prepare engineers for a broader role in healthcare. The paper elaborates on aspects of technology assessment and the need for training of engineers in specific concepts and principles.

Status and trends in biomedical engineering education

An overview of graduate and undergraduate programs is given, including a brief history of each. With respect to undergraduate studies, the issues of accreditation, department status versus option programs, employment, registration, and medical and professional school opportunities are examined. Enrollment trends are examined. A survey of biomedical engineering textbooks and a bibliography containing 102 references are given in an appendix.

Biomedical engineering education and technology transfer

The author examines the role of a biomedical engineering educator in the technology transfer in health care delivery. He identifies the problem as lack of proper communication between the physician and the engineer and suggests ways to remedy it. He discusses the role that the biomedical engineering educator can play in enhancing the acceptability of technological. He concludes that technology transfer will proceed as the normal course of events only when the biomedical engineer establishes him/herself as a part of the health care delivery team.

Bioengineering education, 1986-Part II.

This paper presents an overview of the biomedical engineering programs located in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Two-year, four-year, and graduate programs are described, including contact information, course requirements, and prerequisites. As Part II of the Journal's continuing series on education, the intent of the paper is not to evaluate each program, but to illustrate the breadth of biomedical and related engineering education programs available today and to serve as a useful reference to such programs.

Clinical engineering in Italy: two local experiences.

Although biomedical engineering education and research are carried out in most major italian universities, both clinical engineering training programmes and hospital departments are extremely few. An outline of the organisation of such departments is provided. Data from surveys carried out in Piemonte, a region with 80 hospitals without any clinical engineering services, focus on the main problems which result from extensive use of electronic equipment in health facilities, such as electrical safety, maintenance cost, personnel training, costs and benefits of personal and minicomputer applications. Data from the 5 year experience of the Medical Equipment Department of the Local Health Unit of Trieste outline the economic advantage of inhouse maintenance services as well as the department's role in hazard prevention, personnel training and equipment selection. The reasons for the reluctant attitude of the National and Regional Health Authorities to organise clinical engineering services within the major health care facilities are presented and discussed.

From the editor

This issue we break from tradition. We have no guest editor for September buf present a potpourri of papers and staff articles. Due to space limitations we were unable to publish Dr. Reggia's fine paper on computer-assisted medical decision making in the June issue. We also want to apprise our readers of computer use in both dentistry and veterinary medicine - areas where computers are also having a major impact. Importantly, we feature another look at education in biomedical engineering. White and Plonsey's paper should put to rest comments about the inadequate education of bioengineers. Our article on internships for clinical engineers features the bright and not so bright sides of current programs. Our other staff paper on bioengineering at the University of Utah swings positive to show what a dedicated group of faculty can do to make their institution a truly outstanding one. In addition, Webster gives us two reports on bioengineering education and research developments in two other countries China and Brazil. We also reprint an article about a fascinating bit of bioengineering history and entrepreneurship - the development of a commercial pacemaker and the founding of Medtronic, Inc. Patent Editor Ron Cohn was kind enough to submit a paper on the patent and copyright aspects of computer programs. This is particularly appropriate since the issue of protection of programs is far from resolved.

Researchers look at undergraduate biomedical engineering education

Researchers look at undergraduate biomedical engineering education

Biomedical engineering education: enrollment, courses, degrees, and employment.

During the 1979-1980 academic year a two-page questionnaire on biomedical engineering education was sent to 251 engineering schools. 71 schools indicated that they had degree programs and an additional 35 indicated that they had official minor or option programs, 107 did not have a program, and 38 did not respond. For schools offering degrees in biomedical engineering, there were 2859 students enrolled in 37 B.S. programs, 830 students in 48 M.S. programs, and 469 students in 41 Ph.D. programs. Options or minors in biomedical engineering with a degree in another engineering discipline were available at the B.S. level at 41 schools, at the M.S. level at 42 schools, and at the Ph.D. level at 34 schools. Over the past two years, schools offered 109 courses in biomedical instrumentation, 74 in computers in medicine, 162 in physiological systems/modeling, 60 in biomechanics, 47 in biomaterials, 33 in hospital internship, 23 in clinical engineering, 9 in biomedical engineering lab, and 67 in other areas. During the academic year 1978-1979, schools awarded 464 B.S. degrees, 249 M.S. degrees, and 107 Ph.D. degrees in biomedical engineering. Of these graduates, 253 found jobs in industry, 23 in government, 35 in academia, and 66 in hospitals or clinics; 100 went to medical school, 96 to biomedical engineering graduate schools, and 57 to other graduate or professional schools.

Correction to "Biomedical Engineering Education: Enrollment, Courses, Degrees, and Employment"

Correction to "Biomedical Engineering Education: Enrollment, Courses, Degrees, and Employment"

Skill requirements for the rehabilitation engineer: results of a survey.

A survey of skills requred for rehabilitation engineering was prepared by the Biomedical Engineering Divison of the American Society for Engineering Education. The purpose of the survey was to determine basic and specific skills needed for the practice of rehabilitation engineering as assessed by four groups: biomedical engineering educators, practicing engineers, medical doctors, and medical specialists. Results indicated an emphasis in basic skills such as transducers, medical devices, kdnesiology, and anatomy, and in specific skills such as rehabilitation devices and aids, equipment control programs, and legal correlates. The two engineering groups tended to agree with each other as did the two medical groups; however, the engineeringgroups did not always concur with the medical groups. Medical doctors and medical specialists generally desired a more broadly trained and more highly skilled rehabilitation engineer. Results suggest that the M.S. degree level appears most reasonable for educational training in rehabilitation engineering.

Education and certification of biomedical engineers in Canada

The education of biomedical engineers in Canada is discussed, with reference to the Canadian health care system and related industry. Information on specific educational programmes, with enrollment data, is presented. The paper concludes with brief comments on the certification of clinical engineers in Canada.

Education and professional training of biomedical engineers in West Germany

The health service and educational systems, together with industry and research centres, are the primary institutions involved in the development of the bio-engineering profession in West Germany. Since industry and research institutions in West Germany are similar in structure to those in other countries, for the purposes of international comparison only the health service and educational systems are described. The questions "how many bioengineers are needed?" and "how many should be trained?", were the motivation for a professional field analysis commissioned by the German Society for Biomedical Engineering. This commission found a need for about seven thousand bioengineers and biotechnicians in West Germany. It is shown, however, that there are actually very few positions open, and some measures to create more positions are discussed.

Medical engineering education in Sweden with reference to other Nordic countries

The education of biomedical engineers in Sweden is examined against the background [corrected] of the organisation of Swedish health care. The history of the introduction of engineers into medicine is briefly recounted, leading on to a description of the academic courses open to both undergraduate and graduate students and to a discussion of the status of biomedical engineering and of biomedical engineers within the health service. Future trends are suggested. The situation in other Nordic countries is also briefly discussed.

The evolution of undergraduate biomedical engineering education and the professional opportunities for program graduates.

In order to assess the present status of undergraduate training in biomedical engineering and the professional opportunities for program graduates, a survey of existing programs was conducted. The results indicate that 24 institutions are currently offering a bachelor's degree program in biomedical engineering. The annual rate of initiation of new programs has been increasing since the offering of the first such program in 1961, with seven new programs reportedly being initiated in 1974. The combined total enrollment of the 24 programs surveyed is approximately 1525 students. The large majority (17 of 24) of the surveyed programs reported increasing enrollment. Among the 9 programs in existence sufficiently long to have graduated at least one class of 10 or more students, the following trends emerged: The range of the reported fraction of graduates entering industry varied from 10 to 50%, with hospital employment the most frequently cited industrial opportunity. All 9 programs reported one-half or more of their graduates entering graduate or medical school. In particular, 5 institutions reported more than one-third of their graduates entering medical school. These distributions reflect the majority view of the 24 degree programs surveyed, namely, that the bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering should not generally be viewed as a terminal degree.

Current issues in biomedical engineering education.

DURING the past decade biomedical engineering has matured as a profession, and its diversity has been increasingly recognized. At the same time the environment external to biomedical engineering has changed rapidly. It has changed politically, socially, and economically. It is the thesis of this essay that biomedical engineering must recognize these external changes and define our goals and objectives in a fashion consonant with and responsive to these changes. To be unresponsive to environmental changes is to invite the fate of the dinosaur?only our fossilized remains will mark our existence. It makes little difference whether the unresponsiveness is through ignorance, inertia, or obstinacy; the ultimate result will be the same.

Biomedical engineering education: how to do what, with which, and to whom.

Biomedical engineering education: how to do what, with which, and to whom.

Biomedical engineering education for employment by industry.

While a considerable number of bioengineers have been trained during the past few years, relatively few have found challenging jobs in industry. This is due in part to the level of development of the biomedical industry and to the type of training received by the bioengineers. However, significant industrial roles have developed for bioengineers including management of R & D projects, clinical evaluation, and collaborative professional relationships with clinicians in the medical community. Bioengineers have not been most effective in the product design process. A need exists for additional training for bioengineers in the role of project leadership and in the technical areas of the interface of body tissues with materials and electrical current.