Other Engineering Professionals
This unit group covers Engineering Professionals not elsewhere classified. It includes Acoustic Engineers, Aerospace Engineers, Biomedical Engineers, Engineering Technologists, Environmental Engineers, Fire Safety Engineers, Mechatronics Engineers and Naval Architects.
A busy day in the hospital workshop
You are a biomedical engineer at a regional hospital, looking after the equipment that nurses, doctors and technicians rely on every day. It is Monday at 8am. The phone is already ringing, there is a safety check due, and a new piece of equipment has arrived that nobody has learned to use.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
One of our portable monitors has just failed its self check. We need every one we have. Can you sign it back into service? It probably only needs a battery, and I have patients waiting to be moved.
Sign it back in once the battery is changed, since that is the most likely fix
The monitor passes its self check, but you have not tested it fully. A fault you didn't find shows up on the next shift, and the ward has to swap it again mid-task.
Swap in a loan monitor now so the department keeps running, then test the failed one properly
Hana gets a working monitor in minutes. You find a faulty cable, replace it and test the original fully before returning it. Doing it properly is quicker than doing it twice.
Tell her it must be tested fully before it goes back and she will have to manage without
You are right about the testing, but Hana is left short. A loan unit would have kept her working while you did the job correctly.
I have seen a new imaging device at a conference. It is brilliant. I would like us to buy one for the theatre. Could you write a quick note supporting it? The sales rep is coming on Friday.
Write a supportive note, since the doctor is an expert and clearly wants the new device for the theatre
The note goes in and the purchase starts. Months later you discover the device needs a special power supply the theatre does not have, and the cost climbs.
Say it sounds great and you'll back it without looking into the details of the purchase
The device is bought, and then you find it cannot connect to the hospital's systems. Your support was given before you knew what you were supporting.
Agree to review it and ask the rep for technical details, safety information and support terms
You find the installation needs and the training the hospital would require. Dr Gallagher sees you are helping him make a good case, not blocking him.
We have a power outage test on Thursday morning. All the backup power has to be checked, which includes the equipment you look after. I will need your list by Wednesday. Any chance you can have it done?
Say yes, and then work out how to fit it in while doing the rest of your normal job
You complete the list but with late nights, and two items are missed. Saying yes was generous, though a plan would have helped more.
Say you will check what is critical and what can wait, and give Pete a list marked with gaps
Pete gets a useful list and knows exactly what is covered and what is not. The test goes smoothly, and the gaps are fixed afterwards.
Say it is too much for the week and that the test should be postponed until things are quieter
The test is delayed, and then a real brief outage happens before it is rescheduled. Nobody knows how the backup systems would have behaved.
How it went
By the end of the day, the monitor is back with a new cable, the surgeon has a proper review coming and the power test has a list. Biomedical engineers keep life saving equipment working while explaining technical things to busy clinical staff. Would you like being the person the wards call when something stops?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The monitors that cried wolf
A fictional case set in the engineering workshop of a regional hospital, where the machines that help care for patients are tested and repaired.
The situation
Sunita was a biomedical engineer at a regional hospital in Cooinda. Nurses on the surgical ward told her that the bedside monitors beeped all day, mostly for nothing. Some staff had started turning the volume down. The ward manager, Jacinta, was worried that a real alarm might be missed. The easy answer from the vendor was to retrain the nurses and tell them to leave the alarms on.
What they did
Sunita spent two days on the ward, listening and noting which alarms went off and why. She found that many were triggered when a patient moved or when a sensor was loose, and that the alarm settings had been copied across from a different ward. She worked with Jacinta and a doctor to agree better settings, and put reminders about sensor care on the trolley. She checked that every monitor still met the safety standards and showed the nurses what had changed.
How it turned out
The ward was much quieter and the nurses said they trusted the alarms again. Sunita kept a note for the next ward to be set up, so the settings would not be copied blindly. The vendor was not thrilled, but agreed to adjust their training material.
What would you do?
- Why might staff turn down an alarm they know is important?
- How would you work out the cause of a problem by watching people at work?
- Who needs to agree before the settings on a medical device are changed?