Depth into Biomedical Engineering

By: Noemi Melo
        Not many people know what biomedical engineers really do or where they work and so forth so I am writing this blog post to explain in depth what a biomedical engineer is. Biomedical engineers research, design, and develop medical products such as joint replacements or robotic surgical instruments. They work with artificial organs, artificial devices, and machines that diagnose medical problems. 

           Biomedical engineers are employed by millions of health services, medical equipment manufactures and research departments/institutes. They have thousands of job responsibilities however they vary depending on what type of employer and seniority of the post held but they can include; using computer software and mathematical models to design, develop and test new materials, devices and equipment. This includes programming electronics, building and evaluating prototypes, troubleshooting problems, and rethinking the design until it works correctly. 

          Biomedical engineers conduct research to solve clinical problems using necessary information. They also arrange clinical trials of the medical products and approach marketing and other industry companies to sell the products. They give advice on new equipment’s as well as test them and maintain them. As a biomedical engineer one should expect the workplace to be an office, laboratory, or clinical setting in most occasions. Biomedical engineers rarely work alone so one should always expect to work with a team. 

            Many biomedical engineers do travel within their working days, for example when the job involves the regional managements and maintenance of the medical equipment’s in hospitals, surgeries and patients’ homes as well as traveling to meetings, conferences or exhibitions. To become a biomedical engineer one must have certain qualifications such as a degree in biomedical science/engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and/or physics. The skills of a biomedical engineer are to have a strong interest in engineering and medicine, good communication skills in order to interact with millions of people, excellent attention to details, the ability to design products that are effective and practical as well as cost effective, and lastly good problem solving skills and the ability to work under pressure. 

           Biomedical engineers who go into research must have a PhD in Biomedical engineering, as well as a role at a university or academic institute as a lecturer or researcher. If a biomedical engineer decides to go into industry, he/she can work in management, marketing, production, quality assurance, research, and technical.