Medical Equipment Management - Hospital Safety Programs

Hospital Safety Programs

The Joint Commission stipulates seven management plans for hospital accreditation. One of the seven is safety. Safety includes a range of hazards including mishaps, injuries on the job, and patient care hazards. The most common safety mishaps are "needle-sticks" (staff accidentally stick themselves with a needle) or patient injury during care. As a manager, ensure all staff and patients are safe within the facility. Note: it’s everyone’s responsibility!

There are several meetings that medical equipment managers are required to attend as the organizations technical representative. The following are:

• Patient Safety
• Environment of Care
• Space Utilization Committee
• Equipment Review Board
• Infection Control (optional)

Educational Requirements For Bio-Medical Engineer : Students should take the most challenging science, math, and English courses available in high school. All biomedical engineers have at least a bachelor's degree in engineering. Many have advanced graduate degrees as well. Courses of study include a sound background in mechanical, chemical, or industrial engineering, and specialized biomedical training. Most programs last from four to six years, and all states require biomedical engineers to pass examinations and be licensed.

Duties & Responsibilities For Bio-Medical Engineer: Description: Biomedical Engineers use engineering principles to solve health related and medical problems. They do a lot of research in conjunction with life scientists, chemists, and medical professionals to design medical devices like artificial hearts, pacemakers, dialysis machines, and surgical lasers. Some conduct research on biological and other life systems or investigate ways to modernize laboratory and clinical procedures. Frequently, biomedical engineers supervise biomedical equipment maintenance technicians, investigate medical equipment failure, and advise hospitals about purchasing and installing new equipment. Biomedical engineers work in hospitals, universities, industry, and research laboratories.

Working Conditions : Biomedical engineers work in offices, laboratories, workshops, manufacturing plants, clinics and hospitals. Some local travel may be required if medical equipment is located in various clinics or hospitals. Most biomedical engineers work standard weekday hours. Longer hours may be required to meet research deadlines, work with patients at times convenient to them, or work on medical equipment that is in use during daytime hours.

Duties : Biomedical engineers work closely with life scientists, chemists and medical professionals (physicians, nurses, therapists and technicians) on the engineering aspects of biological systems. Duties and responsibilities vary from one position to another but, in general, biomedical engineers:

• design and develop medical devices such as artificial hearts and kidneys, pacemakers, artificial hips, surgical lasers, automated patient monitors and blood chemistry sensors.

• design and develop engineered therapies (for example, neural-integrative prostheses).

• adapt computer hardware or software for medical science or health care applications (for example, develop expert systems that assist in diagnosing diseases, medical imaging systems, models of different aspects of human physiology or medical data management).

• conduct research to test and modify known theories and develop new theories.

• ensure the safety of equipment used for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring.

• investigate medical equipment failures and provide advice about the purchase and installation of new equipment.

• develop and evaluate quantitative models of biological processes and systems.

• apply engineering methods to answer basic questions about how the body works.

• contribute to patient assessments.

• prepare and present reports for health professionals and the public.

• supervise and train technologists and technicians.

Biomedical engineers may work primarily in one or a combination of the following fields:

• bioinformatics – developing and using computer tools to collect and analyze data.

• bioinstrumentation – applying electronic and measurement techniques.

• biomaterials – developing durable materials that are compatible with a biological environment.

• biomechanics - applying knowledge of mechanics to biological or medical problems.

• bio-nano-engineering – developing novel structures of nanometer dimensions for application to biology, drug delivery, molecular diagnostics, microsystems and nanosystems.

• biophotonics – applying and manipulating light, usually laser light, for sensing or imaging properties of biological tissue.

• cellular and tissue engineering – studying the anatomy, biochemistry and mechanics of cellular and sub-cellular structures, developing technology to repair, replace or regenerate living tissues and developing methods for controlling cell and tissue growth in the laboratory.

• clinical engineering – applying the latest technology to health care and health care systems in hospitals.

• genomics and genetic engineering – mapping, sequencing and analyzing genomes (DNA), and applying molecular biology methods to manipulate the genetic material of cells, viruses and organisms.

• medical or biological imaging – combining knowledge of a physical phenomenon (for example, sound, radiation or magnetism) with electronic processing, analysis and display.

• molecular bioengineering – designing molecules for biomedical purposes and applying computational methods for simulating biomolecular interactions.

• systems physiology - studying how systems function in living organisms.

• therapeutic engineering – developing and discovering drugs and advanced materials and techniques for delivering drugs to local tissues with minimized side effects.