By Bryant K. Hawkins Sr.
I will be answering a question that a lot of new technicians that come into the HTM industry have. It’s a very important question to answer. The hot topic question is, “What is the difference between a biomedical engineer and a biomedical equipment technician?” We know the most obvious difference is the education route. A BMET can obtain a certificate, join an apprenticeship program or an associate degree to enter the HTM industry. To be a biomedical engineer you need to obtain at least a bachelor’s degree.
Before we can compare, lets first explain in detail what it takes to become a biomedical engineer. The biomedical engineer is an evolving discipline in the engineering field that works directly with engineers, physicians and scientists to provide interdisciplinary insight into medical and biological problems.
Take, for example, the biomedical engineering programs at Columbia University. They prepare students to apply engineering and applied science to problems in biology, medicine, and the understanding of living systems and their behavior to develop biomedical devices. Modern engineering encompasses sophisticated approaches to measurement, data acquisition and analysis, simulation, and system identification. These approaches are useful in the study of individual cells, organs, entire organisms and populations of organisms.
That’s an example of the education’s programs. You also have biomedical engineering companies that leverage technology to create pharmaceutical drugs, surgical robots, micro implants and other cutting-edge products designed to improve human health. Their employees focus on solving medical problems and promoting innovation in health care.
In the medical industry: The role of a biomedical engineer includes designing biomedical equipment and devices to aid the recovery or improve the health of individuals. This can include internal devices, such as stents or artificial organs, or external devices, such as braces and supports. It can also include creating and adapting medical equipment. It’s a role that requires excellent knowledge of computing, biology and engineering, an inventive nature and good problem-solving skills.
When COVID-19 was at its worst peak, biomedical engineers from a range of different industry backgrounds had to put their normal tasks to one side to build ventilators and personal protection equipment (PPE) to help the NHS care for the increasing numbers of patients in intensive care units with COVID-19. They were using their ingenuity to make the items that were so desperately needed. Many were using reverse engineering techniques to help them to deconstruct items and their parts to help them better understand the make-up of the equipment and the optimum methods needed to recreate them.
This process would normally take many months, but because of the COVID-19 threat to humankind, the challenge was shortening this time frame as much as possible. Items were needed within days or weeks, so they were working to safely speed up the production and testing process, to ensure that equipment is distributed quickly, while still meeting high health and safety requirements such as sterilization measures set out by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Biomedical engineers were taking advantage of the processes used in manufacturing like 3D printing. This was a useful tool for engineers, as it allowed them to make copies of precise items several times over. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many small companies or individuals with access to 3D printers were doing their part to produce additional face masks and visors for health care workers, and those working near other people.
Then, we had big name companies like Airbus, Apple, Babcock, Dyson, Mercedes Formula 1 and Tesla that helped bridge the gap in supply, and some are following specifications provided by the government to make the process as efficient as possible.
The pandemic has helped to highlight the impact that biomedical engineering can have on people’s lives. I will share a quote from Ian Chell (a medical device electrical safety expert) from the UK. “The recent COVID-19 events will change the face of biomedical engineering. Now, when you tell people you are learning about biomedical engineering, everybody will be able to relate to what you do as you fix the life-saving ventilators. Biomedical engineering has suddenly become the most important engineering discipline in the world,” Chell said.
Biomedical engineers focus on advances in technology and medicine to develop new devices and equipment for improving human health. To simplify it, they will design or create software to run medical equipment or simulate computers to test new drug therapies.
A biomedical engineer can work in various industries, but I will just speak on biomedical engineers in the medical field in relation to biomedical equipment technicians. A biomedical equipment technician has some of the same training as a biomedical engineer, but their main responsibilities are to install and service medical equipment. On the other hand, a biomedical engineer often helps to design and manufacture the equipment that biomed equipment technicians service. Biomedical engineers also have more advanced training, and they typically need a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. They also collaborate with other scientists, engineers and designers to create many of the protocols and specifications that dictate the biomedical equipment technician job.
Hopefully this gives you some insight to the difference between a biomedical engineer and a biomedical equipment technician. As always, I must leave you with a quote.
“Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.” – Theodore von Karman, Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist.
