Internship, Residency, Audit and Service Partnership in Clinical Engineering

Production of Biomedical Equipment is the result of close collaboration of Industry with Academia, where new devices are conceived and prototyped at patient bedside. Similarly, Clinical Engineering at hospitals benefits from close cooperation with a supporting University. Six months Internship students perform routine tasks under the supervision of Residents of first, second and third year who gradually take over management duties. Service Companies are offered contract with end-of-year additional benefits and fines for either excellent biomedical equipment performance or excess downtime. A fine-tuned Computerized Maintenance Management System - with double entry of preventive and corrective actions by Service Companies and by Interns - gives Clinical Engineering management a clear view to make efficient and timely decisions. Yearly audits, one internal and one external, help update certification documents. Due to the transcendental impact of the Hospital in patients experience and outcome, a visible relationship with a university supervising Interns and Residents and publishing biomedical equipment efficiency statistics may be important, as if the Hospital was a temple of some sort. A 250-bed general Hospital can benefit from six Interns (three simultaneous in each semester), three Residents, all academically supervised by university instructors, four biomedical engineering technicians and a Clinical Engineering manager with a deputy manager and a secretary. Larger hospitals can double the numbers of both student Interns and Residents.