Engineering and medical science combine in the specialist field of medical electronics. It entails creating tools that can treat medical issues and enhance healthcare delivery.
The health team needs biomedical engineers because they use their understanding of biology and medicine to create novel medical gadgets. For example, they aid in creating prosthetic limbs and artificial organs.
Digitalization
Designing for the automobile or healthcare sectors, in particular, increasingly emphasizes the need for digitization. The capacity to store and access data from anywhere at any time is only one of its many benefits.
Digitalization is changing how medicine is developed and made available to patients in the medical sector. It improves productivity and lowers expenses by assisting medical professionals in reaching diagnostic and treatment decisions more quickly.
Computational simulation is a crucial aspect of digitalization to determine device performance and durability for medical devices. For instance, finite element analysis (FEA) enables designers to model potential failure scenarios for medical devices.
Medical electronics engineers must also consider legal regulations, manufacturing certifications, validation standards, and concerns associated with obsolescence for obsolete or old components. This is particularly true given the increased desire for compact, sophisticated, connected devices that can meet various regulatory requirements and hit the market fast on the part of medical OEMs.
3D Bioprinting
There are several uses for 3D bioprinting, such as disease modeling and drug screening. However, the most exciting is the use of 3D-manufactured organs for transplantation.
Patients may be able to print their organs using their cells or stem cells, doing away with the necessity for organ donors. In the US, there are presently about 120,000 persons waiting for a kidney, liver, or heart.
Although printing an entire organ sounds far-fetched, developments are occurring quickly. For instance, scientists at Tel Aviv University have successfully built a 3D heart from a patient’s biological components.
Robotics
We can use robots for many jobs, from moving hazardous products to providing medical treatment. For example, hospitals and clinics employ them to assist medical professionals in completing activities without jeopardizing their safety and effectiveness.
Also, these robots are employed more frequently to reduce surgical human error. They can execute precise movements and take over low-level duties while the surgeon concentrates on high-level work.
Robotics training for surgeons is another usage for them. Doctors can rehearse treatments and enhance their skills using robotic controls on simulation platforms that combine AI and VR.
Safety, quality, and efficiency are crucial elements determining how robotics will develop in healthcare. We should consider these aspects to give patients and their healthcare practitioners the greatest results.
Artificial Intelligence
A technology called artificial intelligence enables computers to learn and analyze data. Many uses exist, such as number plate recognition systems and self-driving cars.
AI assists medical professionals in the diagnosis and better monitoring and treatment of patients’ conditions. Also, it minimizes the necessity for invasive treatments and improves specialists’ decision-making.
Before they are essential in clinics and hospitals, AI solutions must overcome numerous obstacles. They include ensuring these technologies are reliable, efficient, and morally upright.
The usage of AI technology will also require training for healthcare personnel. These professionals will require the ability to evaluate data, apply it efficiently, and comprehend human-machine interaction.
Applications of Medical Electronics Engineering
Engineers specializing in medical electronics use their knowledge of biology and medicine to create tools that address issues with health. These tools include stethoscopes, glucose meters, pacemakers, and defibrillators.
The performance reliability of electronic medical equipment is essential because it frequently performs life-sustaining tasks. Therefore, engineers prepare for routine maintenance using parameters like mean time to failure (MTBF) and mean time to recalibrate (MTTR).
Pacemakers
An electronic device called a pacemaker monitors your heart’s rhythm and administers electricity to maintain a regular beating. Doctors treat several disorders with pacemakers, including bradycardia (slow heartbeat) and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat).
A pacemaker can help patients live longer. A pacemaker also gives beneficial medical data that can aid your doctor in choosing the right course of treatment for you.
A lead that sends electrical impulses to your heart muscle is attached to modern pacemakers and placed in the chest and belly. These leads are attached to a tiny electrical generator and a microcontroller that tracks the electrical impulses generated naturally by your heart.
The first battery-operated pacemaker was developed in the late 1950s by a Minneapolis electrical engineer called Earl Bakken and his brother-in-law, a founder of Medtronic. Manufacturers hermetically seal the lithium iodide battery to shield it from atmospheric pollution and consist of a solid electrolyte/separator.
Patient Monitoring Systems
Systems for monitoring patients’ vital signs, such as blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation, are electronic equipment. Additionally, they spot anomalies and warn clinicians when values are too high or too low.
Patient monitors come in different varieties. While some have a few options for showing various pieces of information, others can track various factors.
Health professionals can remotely monitor their patient’s vital signs using remote patient monitoring (RPM) systems, which then electronically transmit the information to them. This enhances clinical judgments made by clinicians and leads to better results.
Implants
We can replace organs and blood arteries missing from a person with medical implants. These gadgets could be electronic devices or built of biological materials like silicone, titanium, and apatite.
Patients with physical conditions like heart disease, brain injury, and deafness use implants. They can also help to monitor and manage bodily processes.
A pacemaker, which controls heart rate using microelectronics and sensors, or a cochlear implant, which can recognize and encode sound, are two common applications of implants in medical electronics engineering.
These devices are typically implanted directly into the body and are automated so that the patient does not have to activate them for them to function actively. Doing this lowers the chance of infection and protects the implant from the body’s environment.
Artificial Limbs
Amputees who have lost their natural limbs due to sickness or injury can use prosthetic limbs created specifically for them. A prosthetist, a physician, and a physical therapist create these devices to fit the patient’s physique.
Combining several materials, including metals, plastics, and carbon fibers, produces a prosthetic limb. These materials have a variety of characteristics, including density, corrosion resistance, load-bearing capacity, Young’s modulus, and strength.
Electrodes inserted in the residual limb muscles are one way to accomplish this. This enables the patient to transmit electrical signals that cause the mechanical limb’s muscles to contract.
Another strategy entails building a sensory interface that routes nerves from the natural limb to the prosthetic limb’s surrounding skin. Using a process called sensory substitution, amputees may eventually be able to experience touch with their mechanical hands.
Top 10 medical electronics engineering companies in the world
Companies that specialize in designing, developing, and producing medical devices and equipment are known as medical electronics engineering businesses. These businesses play a critical part in the healthcare sector by giving medical personnel the necessary equipment to diagnose, treat, and monitor patients. The top 10 medical electronics engineering businesses in the globe according to revenue, product line, and market share include:
Siemens Healthineers
A market leader in medical technology, Siemens Healthineers offers a wide range of point-of-care testing, laboratory diagnostics, and medical imaging products and services. Siemens Healthineers is a leader in the medical electronics engineering sector, with over 50000 people and operations in over 70 countries.
General Electric Healthcare
A branch of the General Electric Company, General Electric Healthcare offers medical technologies such as imaging, diagnostics, patient monitoring, and medical software. In addition, the company provides various products and solutions to satisfy the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients everywhere.
General Electric Healthcare
A branch of the General Electric Company, General Electric Healthcare offers medical technologies such as imaging, diagnostics, patient monitoring, and medical software. In addition, the company provides various products and solutions to satisfy the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients everywhere.
Philips Healthcare
A division of the Netherlands multinational technology corporation Royal Philips is Philips Healthcare. The business provides various medical products and services like patient monitoring, diagnostic imaging, and healthcare informatics. With operations in more than 100 nations, Philips Healthcare is one of the world’s top engineering firms for medical electronics.
Medtronic
Medtronic, a leading medical technology provider, creates and produces equipment for various medical disciplines, including orthopedics, neurology, and cardiology. With operations in more than 160 nations, Medtronic is one of the biggest medical device firms in the world.
Abbott Laboratories
Leading healthcare provider Abbott Laboratories focuses on discovering, producing, and marketing a broad range of nutritional, diagnostic, and medicinal products. Products are available for cardiology, diabetes, neuromodulation, and other specialties from the company’s medical device division.
BD (Becton, Dickinson, and Company)
BD is a multinational medical technology provider that focuses on designing and producing diagnostic tools, lab apparatus, and medical devices. Hospitals, research facilities, and clinics are just a few healthcare environments where the company’s goods are employed.
Stryker Corporation
The Stryker Corporation is a market-leading medical technology provider focusing on designing and producing tools and devices for various medical disciplines, including orthopedics, neurology, and surgery. The business offers a wide range of products and services to satisfy the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients everywhere.
Johnson & Johnson
The pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer health industries are all served by the multinational firm Johnson & Johnson. For example, surgery, orthopedics, and cardiovascular disease products are available from the company’s medical device section.
Boston Scientific Corporation
The research and production of medical devices for numerous medical specialties, such as cardiology, neurology, and urology, is the focus of Boston Scientific Corporation, a top medical technology provider. The company offers a comprehensive range of products and solutions to satisfy the requirements of healthcare professionals and patients everywhere.
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific is a prominent biotechnology corporation with various goods and services for the analytical, diagnostics, and life sciences markets. In addition, the company’s medical device division makes products for clinical diagnostics, drug discovery, and research.
