Create medical devices and machines.
Simplistic machines with gears and levers have given way to complex beasts that perform mind-bending calculations while operating on tiny circuit boards built by other machines. All this technology is like a foreign language to most, and it’s the duty of a Clinical Engineer to translate the requirements of medical equipment into everyday language.
Whether employed at a hospital or serving as a private Consultant for several clinics, a Clinical Engineer helps train Biomedical Equipment Technicians, audits hospitals to ensure that equipment meets all safety requirements, and serves as the glue that bonds cutting-edge medical technology with ever-changing hospital practices.
While the hospital focuses on patient care, you — the Clinical Engineer — focus on choosing which new equipment will provide faster, more accurate test results, and determine what the hospital’s budget can handle. Scanners that emit less radiation or X-ray machines that can show more detailed images all help Doctors give patients more accurate diagnoses.
After choosing the appropriate medical equipment upgrades, you train others in the operation and repair of this new technology. Think of yourself as part Planner, part Supervisor. Lifesaving technology is only useful when someone knows what to use and how to use it. It’s the Clinical Engineer’s job to see that clients are well equipped and well educated.