This patient-centered field, which combines modern medicine with engineering, emerged thanks to the development of medical technologies during the second half of the 20th century.
Clinical engineering includes healthcare-oriented medical devices with preventive, therapeutic, diagnostic, and restorative applications. Some of its roles are advising, designing, and defining technological plans and policies to support the structure of healthcare institutions.
For some time now, the intervention of technology in the health area has become increasingly significant and the advantages are numerous. On the one hand, it increases hospital clinical efficiency in patient care, and, on the other hand, it optimizes institutions’ cost-benefit ratio thanks to the use of biomedical infrastructure and equipment.
Clinical engineering stands out among the new disciplines of medicine due to the constant development of health technologies for application in the clinical setting. It is a specialty within biomedical engineering and its primary focus is using medical technologies to optimize healthcare delivery, linking different players to achieve safe and efficient care.
Our perspective on healthcare
At Fibonacci, we are committed to improving the quality of healthcare services through modern medicine. We are engaged in the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies to solve a wide range of everyday problems in healthcare, acting as an agent of change.
The use of technology in health institutions is related not only to the intervention of medical devices but also to the capacity for the appropriate management of technological resources, the development of processes, and the inclusion of IT systems. That is why we seek to understand the needs of each project and each actor in the health system, to detect opportunities for improvement and achieve optimal solutions to each need.
It is evident that the solutions supported by technological developments improve people’s quality of life. However, it is worth highlighting that the human resources in contact with patients at healthcare institutions will continue to play a fundamental role and must be trained in the use of both the equipment and the associated IT solutions.
In this sense, the presence of a clinical engineer in the team will help reduce costs through the planning of maintenance, replacement, and acquisition of new equipment, and will also optimize the use of the available technology through proper use of the equipment.
Clinical Engineers
Clinical engineers are highly trained professionals, whose primary role is to provide and promote patient care through technological management. Although they are not in close relationship with patients, their work has also a great impact since their knowledge is applied to situations where care and professional ethics quality standards must be met.
Their role as a link between modern medicine and engineering leads to better use of technology for patient care by generating more efficient environments and processes and a more effective benefit-cost ratio. Their main responsibilities include evaluating and selecting new technologies for institutions, providing training or technical assistance to the operators of new equipment, designing new devices, and evaluating every aspect related to a given technology such as costs, benefits, and associated risks.
