Clinical Engineering

The aim of this course is to foster our students' consciousness and capabilities towards become leaders of humanity and team medicine as "clinical engineering" specialists who can cope with ethics issues and can connect the latest medical equipment to the support for patients' lives.
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What is Clinical Engineering (CE)?

A Clinical Engineering Technologist in Japan is defined as a person who practices the operation, maintenance and inspection of clinical life support and control systems, for instance, dialyzers, mechanical ventilators and artificial heart-lung machines. He or she plays an important role in clinical practices such as cardiac operations, as well as in the education of medical doctors and nurses on the use of medical equipment. Accordingly, he or she is required to obtain medical knowledge and communication ability as a member of a medical practice team, in addition to engineering skills.

Education

Clinical engineering is a new interdisciplinary field integrating engineering with medicine. It is vital in this field to combine engineering areas (mechanical engineering, electronics, information technology, etc.) effectively with medicine. Fundamental subjects on the integration of engineering and medicine and on medical equipment are assigned in the first year to cover a wide range of clinical engineering. Lectures and practical training on engineering and medical sciences are assigned in successive years. The equipment used for practical training is up-to-date and identical to those used in hospitals. Students gain experience in clinical work at the hospital (including the intensive care unit) for 10 weeks in the fourth year, and a one-day nursing experience and a visit to a manufacturer are also provided in the fourth year.

Research

Many research projects are conducted in the laboratories of the Clinical Engineering Course, specifically, virtual clinical engineering in the medical informatics laboratory; measurement of mechanical functions in the human body through the application of robotics in the biomedical engineering laboratory; analysis of medical accidents caused by equipment and analysis of interaction between the human body and machines in the clinical engineering laboratory; and detection of biological information using electrical impedance in the bioelectronics laboratory. Each student in the fourth year joins one of these projects for more than six months, acquiring skills for research and development and engaging in academic activities.

Research activities

Medical Informatics

  1. Nonlinear modeling of cardiac arrhythmia and cardiovascular mechanics
  2. Time-frequency analysis of heart rate variability
  3. Optimal problems in bio-statistics
  4. Development of software for virtual clinical engineering

Biomedical Engineering

  1. Use of robotics for studies of joint biomechanics
  2. Analysis of the stress field at the fixation site of implants
  3. Cryopreservation of biological tissues
  4. Wear and toxicity of implantation materials

Clinical Engineering

  1. Risk and safety management of medical equipment in medical facilities
  2. Analysis of medical accidents caused by equipment
  3. Analysis of safety of medical equipment
  4. Development of inhaled nitric oxide and/or inhaled hydrogen gas systems and their clinical application
  5. Analysis of interaction between the human body and machines such as mechanical ventilator, artificial heart-lung machine and hemodialysis system
  6. Development of a new blood purification system
  7. Analysis of amniotic stem cells and their application to regenerative medicine

Bioelectronics

  1. Robust detection of flowing emboli using accurate and fast measurement of electrical impedance
  2. Application of impedance measurement to various clinical problems
  3. Identification of molecular biological systems underlying ventilator associated lung injury (VALI) by means of comprehensive gene expression analysis
  4. Bioinformatics on microarray data

Authorization Licenses offered by Japanese government and Related Societies

Medical Engineering and Technology : Clinical Engineering

  • Qualification to take the examination for Clinical Engineering Technologists