What is Biomedical Engineering?

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering techniques and analyses to problem-solving in medicine and the biomedical sciences.

In most aspects of health care, disease prevention and treatment, or rehabilitation, there are problems that require an engineering approach. These may include developing systems to maintain and enhance life, designing replacement parts for people, or creating systems to allow the handicapped to use computers for work and communication.

The growing complexity of medical technology has increased the demand for appropriately trained professionals to bridge the gap between clinical medicine and applied medical technology. These personnel must be capable of defining a medical problem in engineering science terms and of finding a solution that satisfies both engineering and medical requirements. Such trained personnel constitute the core of biomedical engineers.

The biomedical engineer has expertise in engineering science, biological science and medical science. Biomedical engineering is usually based on one of the traditional engineering disciplines, such as electrical or mechanical engineering. There has been a great expansion of biomedical engineering in areas such as medical electronics, clinical engineering, biomaterials, and rehabilitation engineering. The scope of the field is enormous: from cardiac monitors to clinical computing, artificial hearts to contact lenses, wheel chairs to artificial tendons, modelling dialysis therapy to modelling the cardiovascular system. Biomedical engineers are also integral in the management of technology in hospitals and health care delivery.

Career opportunities

Biomedical engineers are exposed to many fields of study in engineering, medicine and biology. Due to this broad experience biomedical engineers find employment in hospitals, government bodies, industry or academic areas. Specific areas of employment include: design of medical instrumentation and prostheses; involvement in the development, manufacture and testing of medical products; and the management of technology in the hospital system.

The biomedical engineering manufacturing industry has active research and development programs. There is an increasing tendency for employment of qualified personnel as specialist consultants for promotion of the more sophisticated products, such as implants and diagnostic imaging systems.

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