Comprehensive Biomedical Textbook Provides Industry With Latest Engineering And Technology References

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 30 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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A Practicum for Biomedical Engineering & Technology Management Issues, a new reference book edited by Leslie R. Atles, CCE, CBET, provides the industry's most comprehensive collection of management, technology and reference information. "Designed for students, managers and the continuing professional education needs, the 948-page book helps the biomedical community achieve its common goal of world-class healthcare service," according to Rich Eng, General Manager of GE Healthcare's Monitoring Solutions and Diagnostic Cardiology Services, who wrote the book's foreword. The book is available online from Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company and can be ordered from Amazon.com.

Practicum features 55 chapters from 30 authors, covering the entire scope of information needed for technician/engineer education. In addition, the book includes material adapted (and now updated) from the 1995 book Affinity Reference Guide for Biomedical Technicians. Atles, then part of Marquette Electronics, co-authored this highly popular book with Scott Segalewitz, Chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Technology Program at Penn State University-New Kensington.

Eng noted that, "The sense of teamwork from the book's contributors enables biomeds from around the world to pursue a vision of seeing people 'live life to the fullest.' That's why we supported Les Atles' efforts to update the original information and expand the scope of the book to create A Practicum for Biomedical Engineering & Technology Management Issues."

Breadth of information builds bridges

Professionals and educators already consider Practicum, introduced early this year, an indispensable addition to their reference libraries and incorporate it as a core part of their curriculum.

"The list of Practicum authors reads like a 'who's-who' in our field," said Paul Kelley, Manager, Biomedical Engineering, Washington Hospital, Fremont, Calif. "I thought that the breadth of information would be invaluable to my entire team, so it was easy to convince my administration to buy copies for all our engineering staff."

While other texts may go deeper into any given subject, Kelley believes that no other reference book provides such complete coverage of the BMET/CBET field. "To gather this much information, you would have to buy a library of books," stated Kelley (see list of sample chapters below).

"Every OEM, independent service provider and in-house technician/ clinician should have this book in their reference library. It puts information specific to our business just a finger tip away," said John Noblitt, CBET, Biomedical Equipment Technology Director at Caldwell Community College, Hudson, N.C. Noblitt uses the Practicum as part of teaching courses on instrumentation and safety and standards.

Noblitt added that, "People have a mental picture of biomeds sitting at an electronics bench changing out transistors, but so much of our real job focus on building bridges between the clinical and technological sides of our business. Practicum helps me teach students how to build bridges. The scope of this book gives them insight on the motivations and priorities of their managers, clinicians, IT staff and other constituencies."

Guide to book contents

Sample chapters/subjects from A Practicum for Biomedical Engineering & Technology Management Issues:

1. A Brief History of Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Equipment Technology
2. Establishing an In-House Biomedical Program (Business Planning and Execution)
3. Quality Assurance
5. Managing Medical Device Safety
8. HIPAA and Medical Device Security
9. Use Errors: The Benefits and Challenges of In-service Education
11. Computerized Maintenance Management Systems
12. Human Factors Engineering
14. Evidence-based Medical Equipment Maintenance Management
21. Customer Satisfaction: A Key Metric for Biomedical and Clinical Engineering
23. Emergency Preparedness Plan: The Role of Clinical Engineers and BMETs
28. Distance Education and the Talking Head
34. Introduction to Cardiac Physiology and Cardiac Devices
35. Telehealth: I Can See the Highway, but Where is the Ramp?
36. An Introduction to DICOM (Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine)

In addition to these topics, Practicum include such reference guides as those for Electrical Safety Codes and Standards, Cardiac Physiology, Defibrillators, Infusion Devices, Lasers, Computer Networks and Ultrasound.

About the author

Les Atles, CCE, CBET has worked in the field of biomedical / clinical engineering for the past 34 years. Early in his career, Atles spent 16 years managing an in-house biomedical program in a midsized specialty medical center in Los Angeles and became very involved in the California Medical Instrumentation Association (CMIA). He is currently active in CMIA as President of their Lifetime Member Board of Directors Advisory Group and employed as the Director of Technology Management for an independent service organization. Atles also worked for Marquette Electronics (now part of GE Healthcare) as National Biomedical Advisor. There, he started a Biomedical Advisory Group allowing the company to work closer with and focus on the biomedical community.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat, and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection, and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17- billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

GE Healthcare