Focus on: Multicare Medical Center Biomedical Engineering Department.

This paper describes the Biomedical Engineering Department of Multicare Medical Center (Tacoma, WA), a multiple hospital group consisting of Tacoma General Hospital, Mary Bridge Children's Hospital, and Doctors Pavilion. The Department maintains over 4300 separate medical devices, with a replacement value in excess of $20,000,000, and has written its own software program for inventory control and PM scheduling. In addition to the standard tasks, this Department maintains the CT, Rolm VL PBX, anesthesia gas machines, and all of the equipment in Diagnostic Radiology, and performs environmental gas monitoring.     

Focus on: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Biomedical Engineering Department.

This paper describes the Biomedical Engineering Department of Newark Beth Israel Hospital. This hospital's extensive involvement in research, heart transplantation, and special technologies has placed unusual demands on the Biomedical Engineering Department because of the large volume of routine and specialized equipment involved. The 12-person Department is responsible for servicing over 2700 pieces of equipment in 91 various hospital departments, and also offers its services to other local hospitals. Established in 1970, the Department uses a computerized biomedical equipment database program to manage data for repairs, preventive maintenance, and electrical safety.     

Focus on: Biomedical Engineering Department, Saint Therese Medical Center.

This paper describes the Biomedical Engineering Department at Saint Therese Medical Center, Waukegan, Illinois. The medical center is part of the Saint Therese Human Services Corporation. Two Biomedical Equipment Technicians service 845 pieces of electronic medical equipment. Within the first year, services were expanded so that the department provides a technical resource for the clinical departments within the center. The department's programs have resulted in cost savings through management of technology. The biomedical program is dedicated to the improvement of patient care and safety through the management of technology.     

Focus on: Johnson City Medical Center Hospital Biomedical Engineering Department.

The Biomedical Engineering Department at Johnson City Medical Center Hospital, Johnson City, Tennessee, is responsible for servicing over 2,500 pieces of equipment. The department also provides biomedical services, on a contract basis, to six area hospitals and ten physicians' offices. The department is extensively involved in pacemaker implants and participates in the hospital's system of equipment specification and selection. The department was established in 1974, as the region's first hospital-based biomedical engineering department with a staff of one. It has grown to a staff of five including two certified BMET's and one certified clinical engineer. Affiliation with a medical school brings new technology which challenges the department to future growth.     

Focus on: Washington Hospital Center, Biomedical Engineering Department

The Biomedical Engineering Department of the Washington Hospital Center provides clinical engineering services to an urban 907-bed, tertiary care teaching hospital and a variety of associated healthcare facilities. With an annual budget of over $3,000,000, the 24-person department provides cradle-to-grave support for a host of sophisticated medical devices and imaging systems such as lasers, CT scanners, and linear accelerators as well as traditional patient care instrumentation. Hallmarks of the department include its commitment to customer service and patient care, close collaboration with clinicians and quality assurance teams throughout the hospital system, proactive involvement in all phases of the technology management process, and shared leadership in safety standards with the hospital's risk management group. Through this interactive process, the department has assisted the Center not only in the acquisition of 11,000 active devices with a value of more than $64 million, but also in becoming one of the leading providers of high technology healthcare in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.     

Focus on: Woodland Heights Medical Center, Biomedical Department

The Biomedical Engineering department of Woodland Heights Medical Center provides both emergency and scheduled medical equipment maintenance. Throughout the growth of the community and the acquisition of advanced, state-of-the art technology, the biomedical staff have endeavored to sharpen necessary skills and expand services in an effort to meet the equipment and user needs in a growing market. An unusual combination of medical repair technology and the management of total hospital risk has resulted in the creation of a new department.     

Focus on: Biomedical Technology Department, Lutheran Medical Center.

The Biomedical Technology Department (BTD) at Lutheran Medical Center, (LMC), Wheat Ridge, CO was started in an attempt to meet the challenges of advancing technology and the new requirements of accrediting agencies. LMC treats 92,000 inpatients and 50,000 outpatients per year. The role of the department technicians has changed since the inception of the BTD, in 1976. The most significant impact, on this role, has been the effective utilization of technical skills to generate income for the hospital. Eight technicians service over 4,200 pieces of equipment for 62 departments. The BTD, at present, has eight clinics under Quality Assurance Testing (QAT) contracts. The department is laying ground work for increase service responsibility to become as cost-effective as possible. Obtaining additional service contracts is essential in utilizing department expertise to generate income for the hospital.     

Focus on: New England Medical Center Medical Engineering Department.

The New England Medical Center can be traced back to 1796 when the Boston Dispensary opened the first HMO. Now, the center complex covers four city blocks, offers 47 medical residency programs, has over $20 million in funded research, and includes a medical school, dental school, and the Human Nutrition Research Center. The Medical Engineering Department began in 1971 as a joint venture between the center and Tufts University. Operated on a "fee-for-service" basis, the department consists of nine people in medical engineering and an additional four in radiology engineering. The department performs quality assurance and preventive maintenance work, along with as-needed repairs, throughout the center on an equipment roster that includes over 1,200 computer terminals and printers, 58 intensive care beds, and 200+ I.V. pumps. Specialized equipment allows the department to perform audiology repairs. Future goals include integrating the radiology repair staff into the medical engineering group, improving the group's productivity, and eliminating some of the existing service contracts.     

Focus on: SwedishAmerican Corporation's Biomedical Services Division.

This paper describes the Biomedical Services Division of Heritage Health Management Corporation, a subsidiary of the SwedishAmerican Corporation. Located at Swedish-American Hospital in Rockford, IL, the Division operates as an independent agency servicing 20 facilities. The staff of ten full-time and two part-time employees is responsible for over 5000 pieces of equipment. In addition to in-house maintenance, field service is accomplished with the aid of a fully-equipped van.     

Focus on: University Hospital & Health Sciences Center SUNY at Stony Brook Biomedical Engineering Department

Clinical Engineering is practiced within the Biomedical Engineering Department (BME) at University Hospital, a modern, 536-bed, tertiary care teaching hospital. The 30-member department delivers a full range of clinical engineering services within the Stony Brook academic medical center. Major clinical engineering advances have been made in the areas of technology management, productivity and cost effectiveness, medical device safety, education, and research. University Hospital provides care for 2.5 million people in Suffolk County and other parts of Long Island.     

Focus on: Watsonville Community Hospital Biomedical Engineering Department.

The Journal of Clinical Engineering is pleased to present this FOCUS on the Biomedical Engineering Department of Watsonville Community Hospital (Watsonville, CA). Since the Department's inception in 1983, the growth of the hospital and the surrounding area has resulted in the expansion of the Department and its duties. This paper describes the responsibilities of the two-man Biomedical Engineering Department, which serves this 130-bed hospital and oversees the preventive maintenance and repair of approximately 800 pieces of equipment. In addition, the Department is involved with staff education, equipment inventory control, new equipment purchases, technical consultations, and special projects.     

Focus on: SUNY Health Center at Brooklyn Scientific & Medical Instrumentation Center.

The Scientific and Medical Instrumentation Center (SMIC) is the clinical engineering program serving the State University of New York's Health Science Center at Brooklyn. SMIC is a separate department within the center's 354-bed University Hospital, and provides many instrumentation support services for the hospital and the center's Basic Sciences Division. Now in its 24th year, SMIC developed the nation's first mandatory initial checkout program for patient care equipment, and in 1973 published the results of a funded pilot preventive maintenance program; this served as a model for the start-up of other PM programs in hospitals across the country and overseas. Today, this 35-person department is primarily responsible for some 7,000 units used in over 60 University Hospital departments and clinics. With its interdisciplinary expertise, SMIC also provides the hospital with many other instrumentation services, including prepurchase evaluation and review, and on-site emergency instrumentation service. SMIC also develops unique devices and instruments for the center's researchers, from the prototype stage through to final construction, and may modify instruments for increased safety and efficacy.     

Focus on: Deaconess Hospital Biomedical Services Department.

This paper describes the Biomedical Services Department of Deaconess Hospital, which is centrally located in Oklahoma City, OK. The hospital provides family-centered general and acute care with practically all medical specialties represented. The Department consists of one department supervisor, one technician, and one part-time shared-service secretary. The Department is responsible for the repair, safety testing, and calibration of over 600 instruments, and serves an important role in the selection and support of patient care equipment. Training of users is another major role for this department.     

Focus on: Northern Montana Hospital's Biomedical Services.

This paper describes the Biomedical Services of Northern Montana Hospital, a separate corporation under the parent corporation of Northern Montana Health Care Inc. Located in Havre, Montana, a rural area of north central Montana, the hospital is a 120-bed, non-profit organization. The two BMETs work as part of the Engineering Department and service almost every piece of equipment in the building (approximately 1100 items), as well as a telephone system for another facility. This paper shows that a non-urban hospital, located far from any service company outlet, can be self-supporting as far as equipment service and maintenance are concerned.     

Focus on: Southern Baptist Hospital Biomedical Electronics Department.

This paper describes the Biomedical Electronics Department at Southern Baptist Hospital, New Orleans, LA. The department, organized in January 1986, was established to replace an existing department which was operated under contractual agreement with a clinical equipment management company. The Biomedical Electronics Department is responsible for the preventive maintenance and repair of over 3,500 pieces of equipment, in areas ranging from dialysis to radiology and from communications to computers. The management and approval of all service contracts are handled by the department. Additional responsibilities include equipment inventory control, radio paging and nurse call system maintenance, and control of all time-and-materials services provided by biomedical equipment vendors.     

Focus on: Good Samaritan Hospital Biomedical Services Department.

The Biomedical Services Department of the Good Samaritan Hospital, located in Central Pennsylvania, has responsibility for preventive maintenance, safety and regulation compliance (appropriate to a biomedical department) and repairs for the Hospital. These services have resulted in substantial cost savings. In addition, the Department's Shared Service activity has produced alternative revenue sources. The combined hospital and shared service inventory of approximately 1100 instruments is serviced by the Department Staff, which consists of one Director and two technicians.     

面向医疗器械产业建设应用型生物医学工程专业的思考

通过对医疗器械产业背景的介绍,分析了面向医疗器械产业建设应用型生物医学工程专业的意义,提出了精密医疗器械、医学电子仪器、医疗器械检测技术和临床工程技术4个专业建设方向,并就专业建设过程中遇到的师资队伍建设、专业实验室建设、专业认同感建设等问题进行了讨论,提出了相应的对策。     

医学电子学在生物医学工程培养中的重要地位及教学探索

目的：本文主要探讨提高医学电子学教学质量的方法,以加强其在生物医学工程培养中的纽带作用。方法：通过对比国内外生物医学工程的教学模式及培养方法,结合我国高等院校生物医学工程的人才培养特点,探索我国医学类院校在开展医学电子学课程时的指导思想、课程安排和教学方法等内容。结果：在教学实践的过程中。该方法调动了学生的学习热情,使学生更好地掌握理论知识,并通过实验课程达到理论和实践的有效结合。这种方法不仅使学生的学习效果得到了增强,同时为教师在本科生培养方面积累了经验。结论：合理安排理论课内容,使用适当的教学手段,使医学电子学在生物医学工程的培养中起到连接医学问题和工程方法的桥梁作用。同时做到理论课和实验课的有机结合,着重培养学生的设计理念和动手能力,使本课程的教学效果得到进一步的提升。总之。医学电子学的学习为生物医学工程学科发展提供了承前启后的纽带作用．是培养具有创新精神和实践能力的高级专门人才的首要基石．     

Focus on: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Department of Biomedical Instrumentation

Technology management services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are provided by two distinct cost centers: The Department of Biomedical Instrumentation and Jefferson Biomedical Shared Services. The in-house division of the Department of Biomedical Instrumentation (BMI) provides clinical engineering services to the hospital, a 717-bed, tertiary care facility. BMI supports traditional patient care instrumentation, as well as dialysis machines, anesthesia machines, lasers, and the neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) systems. In addition, the department supports over 3,000 personal computers and associated peripherals, and provides research, design, database support, device evaluation, incident investigation, and product problem investigation services. Jefferson Biomedical Shared Services, an integral component of the Department of Biomedical Instrumentation, offers a shared services program to local area hospitals. It has a current client list of 11 major healthcare institutions with annual revenues approaching $3,000,000 per year.