Because of the proximity of clinical engineering support services to the operating rooms, post-anesthesia care units (PACU)s and intensive care units (ICU)s, the engineering group is closely involved with the day-to-day clinical activities that routinely utilize highly specialized medical instrumentation. To this end, the department has participated in and continues to work on the development of new technology and the design of new medical equipment.
The development work has taken two approaches. The first approach has been primarily as a designer of custom devices or a modifier of commercial devices for specialized applications.
Examples include:
- anesthesia delivery systems
- jet ventilators
- pediatric ventilators
- temperature controllers
- patient monitor data collectors
- remote central monitors
- room status monitors
- PCA distribution and inventory cabinets
The second approach has been to work directly with the medical industry and co-develop new or improved instrumentation. Examples of this approach include:
- GE/Marquette TRAM
- BBraun VISTA Infusion Pump
- Baxter Sabersafe Case
- GE SOLAR 9500 Patient Monitor
- GE Anesthesia Record Keeping System
- Hill Rom Infusion Transport System
- IVAC Nitroprusside Controller
The department's philosophy is to try to use clinical knowledge in conjunction with technical understanding to develop or modify the development of medical products to more closely meet the needs of clinical anesthesia personnel. To that end, the Clinical Engineering area has been issued more than a dozen U.S. patents.