Medical Engineering Degrees The UK Perspective

1
Medical Engineering Degrees - The UK Perspective

• Elizabeth Tanner
• Department of Materials
• Queen Mary University of London
• Mile End Road
• London, E1 4NS, UK

2
Why is UK thinking about Medical Engineering
degrees?

• Training of Medical Engineers has been
  non-systematic
• Many universities have/are developing Medical
  Engineering degrees
• Are students, universities, employers getting the
  best out of these degrees?

Medical Engineering Degrees
In this discussion Medical Engineering includes
all its subsets such as Biomaterials,
Biomechanical Engineering, Biomedical
Engineering, Clinical Engineering, Medical
Electronics, etc
3
Background

• AIME and Royal Academy of Engineering are
  producing a combined report on Medical
  Engineering degrees
• October 2004 - Meeting at Royal Academy of
  Engineering to consider Medical Engineering
  degrees
• January 2005 - final version of report to be
  approved and published

AIME
Association of Institutions concerned with
Medical Engineering
4
UKs Questions

• What is needed in Medical Engineering degrees?
• How to accredit Medical Engineering degrees?
• What is best practice in teaching and how to
  exchange?
• Further developments of degrees

Accreditation of engineering degrees in the UK
Accreditation means provide academic part of
professional training of a Chartered Engineer
5
Current UK Degree Levels

• BEng
• Three years (possibly plus Industrial Year)
• MEng
• Four years (possibly plus Industrial Year)
• The fourth year to be used to increase depth and
  breadth of students knowledge
• MSc/MRes
• Used to increase the range or depth of students
  knowledge/train in research
• PhD
• Note 1 extra year in Scotland

IGNORE IN TODAYS TALK
6
ecuk
UK-SPEC

• CEng
• Accredited Bachelors (Hons) degree in Engineering
  or Technology plus appropriate further learning
  to Masters level
• or an accredited MEng degree
• IEng
• Accredited Bachelors degree in Engineering and
  Technology
• or HNC/HND in Engineering or Technology plus
  appropriate further learning to Bachelors level

ecuk - UK Engineering Council - www.engc.org.uk
7
ecuk
UK-SPEC

• Based on Competence and Commitment
• Sets out generic learning outcome
• Emphasis based on exit levels
• Level of degrees as described in QAA
  Qualifications Framework
• Applicable to new subjects and teaching methods

8
ecuk
Accredited Engineering Degrees - General Learning
Outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding
• Intellectual abilities
• Practical skills
• General transferable skills

9
ecuk
Accredited Engineering Degrees - Specific
Learning Outcomes

• Underpinning science and mathematics
• Engineering analysis
• Design
• Economic, social and environmental context
• Engineering practice

10
Accrediting Medical Engineering
ecuk

• What are the essential facts, concepts, theories
  and principles?
• How to incorporate the medical context?
• Which Engineering Institutions would accredit?
• How can depth (material at the level of the
  qualification) and breadth (material below the
  level of accreditation) be balanced?

11
AIME members who accredited Med Eng
undergraduate degrees
IChemE (Chemical Engineers) ? IEE (Electrical
Engineers) ? IHEEM (Healthcare Estates
Management) ? IIE (Incorporated Engineers) IEng
not CEng IMechE (Mechanical Engineers) ? IoM3
(Materials, Minerals and Mining) ? IoP
(Physics) CPhys accreditation IPEM (Physics
Engineering in Medicine) only
post graduate masters
AIME
Association of Institutions concerned with
Medical Engineering
12
Does accreditation matter?

• Graduates need a qualification that can be used
  elsewhere
• Accredited courses will attract students
  (including international students)
• High quality graduates lead to high quality
  products
• Is the future of UK engineering in
  cross-disciplinary areas?

13
ecuk
International benefits of accreditation

• Washington, Sydney and Dublin Accords for CEng,
  IEng and EngTech respectively
• Signatories agree to recognise each others
  accreditation decisions
• Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New
  Zealand, South Africa, UK, USA have signed
• Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Germany are interested
  in joining
• Output standards being drafted for agreement in
  2005

14
ecuk
International aspects

• Bologna Declaration and engineering degrees
• ESOEPE set up in 2000 to share information and
  practice on engineering degree accreditation in
  Europe
• European Commission has funded ESOEPE to develop
  a framework for accreditation of engineering
  education in Europe
• Steering Committee members from France, Germany,
  Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, UK

15
Benefits of Medical Engineering degrees

• Some students want to do Medical Engineering
  but not Engineering
• PROVIDED sufficient engineering content,
  graduates can (and will) go into straight
  engineering
• Will provide more engineering graduates
• Medicine needs more engineering graduates in
  clinical support, industry and as practitioners

16
Concerns with Medical Engineeringdegrees at
undergraduate level

• Can the students gain sufficient knowledge of
  ENGINEERING? to be useful engineers
• Can the students gain sufficient knowledge of
  MEDICAL?
• to be able to use this knowledge,
• for their own intellectual stimulation and
• to be able to communicate with clinicians
• How can these two factors be balanced?

17
Engineering Content Concerns

• Sufficient starting (background) knowledge
• Student intake
• Sufficient knowledge input
• Accreditation of degrees by Engineering
  Institutions

18
Medical Content Concerns

• Design of degree and syllabi
• Teaching by medical school staff
• Design of projects etc.

19
Teaching of Medical Engineering

• Can teaching engineering principles, but applied
  to medical rather than straight engineering
• Four bar mechanisms - human knee
• Laminar fluid flow - blood vessels and kidney
  dialysis
• Steel Alloying - 316L for implants
• Lost wax process - dental implants

20
What does the employer want?

• IN MEDICAL ENGINEERING
• Good understanding of the core discipline
• Ability to work in mixed teams
• includes non technical/non specialist
• may include the patient and relatives
• Understanding of the regulatory framework
• Medical Systems Engineering not widely accepted
  (except in IT)
• Boundary with Physics increasingly blurred

21
Potential Problems in UK

• Can subject be taught by non practitioners?
• Problem of physical separation of university
  departments and hospital medical
  engineering/physics
• Problem of NHS subcontracting to external
  companies
• not technical concern,
• but lose the patient involvement which may be
  reason for choosing the career
• NHS employees have less time for research/service
  development
• Few UK based manufacturers
• thus jobs in sales, service, technical support

22
Is a graduate Medical Engineer employable
elsewhere?

• Physics graduates are employed as (mutate into)
  engineers
• A graduate from an accredited degree has achieved
  recognised standards
• The breadth of the Medical Engineering degree
  could be an asset

23
Advantages of offering Medical Engineering Degrees
Imperial College London

• Popularity
• A more general Engineering training may reflect
  changing engineering practice in industry
• Meeting national needs

24
Options for Medical Engineering degree
Imperial College London

• Course bolted on to one of the more traditional
  engineering degrees
• e.g. Medical electronics, biomechanics,
  biomaterials
• General biomedical engineering course

25
Disadvantages of general biomedical engineering
course
Imperial College London

• Broad syllabus requiring education and training
  in a wide range of topics and skills
• Too broad?
• Tough course

26
Imperial College London
Rationale for course at Imperial

• To provide training for graduate engineers who
  can work in the healthcare sector
• 4-year MEng
• To train engineers who will then proceed to
  medical training
• 3-year BEng

27
Intercalated BSc degrees

• Kings College London
• Biomaterials GKT Dental School
• Imperial College London
• Imaging Medical Engineering
• St Bartholomews and The Royal London School of
  Medicine and Dentistry (QMUL)
• Biomedical Engineering Department of
  Engineering, QMUL
• Clinical Materials Department of Materials,
  QMUL
• University College London
• Medical Physics and Bioengineering Department
  of Medical Physics and Bioengineering