Engineering World Health

Last updated
Engineering World Health
Founded2001, Memphis, Tennessee
Focus Clinical engineering
Area served
Global
Website ewh.org

Engineering World Health (EWH) was a non-profit organization that worked with hospitals and clinics that serve resource-poor communities of the developing world. EWH has now merged with Engineers Without Borders - USA. EWH's focus was on the repair and maintenance of medical equipment and on building local capacity to manage and maintain the equipment without international aid.

Contents

Engineering professors Robert Malkin and Mohammad Kiani established EWH in Memphis in 2001. In 2004, Dr. Malkin and EWH relocated to Duke University, which has been an active partner since that time. As a result of this partnership, EWH is headquartered in Durham, NC. In 2008, EWH received a multi-year grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.

Activities

Summer & January Institutes

Engineering World Health's signature program is the Summer & January Institutes. These service abroad programs engage university-level science and engineering students to use their skills and knowledge to make a direct impact on hospitals in developing countries. Participants spend three to nine weeks in Uganda,Rwanda, Tanzania, Guatemala, Cambodia, or Nepal learning hands-on technical skills and the local language, and then working in local hospitals to install, repair, and maintain medical equipment. Participants also train local staff, empowering them to use and maintain equipment, to create lasting improvements in partner hospitals. [1]

Since 2004, over 1,200 participants have repaired almost 13,200 pieces of hospital equipment, worth an estimated US$26 million. [2]

BMET Training Program

Seeking a sustainable solution to hospital equipment repair, Engineering World Health started a biomedical equipment technician (BMET) training program in late 2009, in partnership with the GE Foundation. Through a three to four year curriculum tailored to each country's needs, EWH works with a local educational institution and Ministry of Health to train BMETs to international standards, train local teachers to carry on the program in the long term, and establish a permanent, accredited BMET training program.[ citation needed ]

The first BMET Training program began in Rwanda, and has since placed trained BMETs in every district in the country. Thanks to further funding from the GE Foundation, EWH has completed a training program Honduras and turned it over to local leadership, and, as of 2016, is training BMETs in Cambodia, [3] Nigeria, [4] and Ethiopia.

BMET Library

In 2016, EWH launched an open-source digital library for BMETs, with the goal of facilitating and fostering information exchange among engineers and technicians around the world. This library is a collection of open source books and publications containing information useful for training (BMETs), particularly in the developing countries where EWH is working. [5]

Other programs

In the summer of 2021, EWH offered a free virtual design program for students in the United States, Lebanon and Jordan. The program, titled Virtual Engineering Innovation and Cultural Exchange, was focused on healthcare design in low-resource settings. [6] It was sponsored by the Stevens Initiative, a project funded by the United States Department of State, Bezos Family Foundation, and the Governments of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, and administered by the Aspen Institute. [7]

Organization

Board of directors

As of 2021, the EWH's board of directors is made up of the following: [6]

Chapters

Engineering World Health has student chapters at 45 universities around the world. [6] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] These Chapters engage students in activities as design projects for the developing world, biomedical equipment repair and evaluation, and raising awareness of global health challenges. Chapters may also get involved in the EWH Design Competition in which teams of engineering students submit a design directed at the needs of developing country healthcare. [13] The top three teams are selected by an independent panel of judges and are then rewarded with cash prizes, giving them a chance to implement their device.

US chapters

International chapters

Partners

EWH's program and funding partners as of August 2022 include: [6] [8] [14]

Former partners include Abbott Laboratories, BD, Biogen, Coca-Cola Company, General Electric, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, McKesson Corporation, the Nigerian Ministry of Health and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. [9] [12] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biomedical engineering</span> Application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology

Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications. BME is also traditionally logical sciences to advance health care treatment, including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. Also included under the scope of a biomedical engineer is the management of current medical equipment in hospitals while adhering to relevant industry standards. This involves procurement, routine testing, preventive maintenance, and making equipment recommendations, a role also known as a Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET) or as a clinical engineer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baylor College of Medicine</span> Private medical school in Houston, Texas

The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been separate from Baylor University since 1969. The college consists of four schools: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the School of Health Professions, and the National School of Tropical Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cedars-Sinai Medical Center</span> Hospital in California, United States

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital has a staff of over 2,000 physicians and 10,000 employees, supported by a team of 2,000 volunteers and more than 40 community groups. As of 2022–23, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cedars-Sinai among the top performing hospitals in the western United States. Cedars-Sinai is a teaching hospital affiliate of David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which was ranked in the top 20 on the U.S. News 2023 Best Medical Schools: Research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas Medical Branch</span> Hospital in Texas, United States

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a public academic health science center in Galveston, Texas, United States. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the oldest medical school in Texas, and has about 11,000 employees. As of April 2024, it had an endowment of $763 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center</span> Public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 23,000 employees, more than 3,000 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient visits per year, UT Southwestern is the largest medical school in the University of Texas System and the State of Texas.

The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth – HSC, Health Science Center, Health Science Center at Fort Worth – is an academic health science center in Fort Worth, Texas. It is part of the University of North Texas System and was founded in 1970 as the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, with its first cohort graduating in 1974. The Health Science Center consists of six schools with a total enrollment of 2,338 students (2022-23).

Santa Clara University School of Engineering was founded and began offering bachelor's degrees in 1912. Over the next century, as the Santa Clara Valley transformed from a largely agricultural area to an industrial center, the school added master and doctoral programs designed to meet the area's growing need for expert engineers. Today, the Silicon Valley provides a setting for the school's programs offered through a broad range of departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine</span> Medical school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a medical school of the University of Pittsburgh, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Medicine, also known as Pitt Med, encompasses both a medical program, offering the doctor of medicine, and graduate programs, offering doctor of philosophy and master's degrees in several areas of biomedical science, clinical research, medical education, and medical informatics.

The Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, or HST, is one of the oldest and largest biomedical engineering and physician-scientist training programs in the United States. It was founded in 1970 and is the longest-standing collaboration between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Within the program, graduate and medical students are registered with both MIT and Harvard and may work with faculty and affiliated faculty members from both communities. HST is a part of MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and forms the London Society at Harvard Medical School.

A biomedical engineering/equipment technician/technologist or biomedical engineering/equipment specialist is typically an electro-mechanical technician or technologist who ensures that medical equipment is well-maintained, properly configured, and safely functional. In healthcare environments, BMETs often work with or officiate as a biomedical and/or clinical engineer, since the career field has no legal distinction between engineers and engineering technicians/technologists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinical engineering</span> Modern medical technologies

Clinical engineering is a specialty within biomedical engineering responsible for using medical technology to optimize healthcare delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Favaloro University</span>

The Favaloro University is a private university in the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. It was founded by surgeon René Favaloro in 1992; it obtained its definitive authorization on October 23, 2003, by decree 963/03 of president Néstor Kirchner. Favaloro did not see his project completely realised, for he committed suicide a few years before completion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation</span>

The Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) was an Australian collaborative medical research institute established in 2000 and based at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Queensland. While the bulk of the institute was located at a purpose-built facility on the Kelvin Grove campus of QUT, a number of projects were conducted at sites across the two main QUT campuses and at multi-partner research institutes adjoining major hospitals. Research was also conducted at IHBI's Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF), in the grounds of the Prince Charles Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge Biomedical Campus</span> Science park in Cambridge, UK

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. The site is located at the southern end of Hills Road in Cambridge, England.

Medical equipment management is a term for the professionals who manage operations, analyze and improve utilization and safety, and support servicing healthcare technology. These healthcare technology managers are, much like other healthcare professionals referred to by various specialty or organizational hierarchy names.

Robert A. Malkin is an engineer specializing in medical instrumentation for the developing world.

Martin (Maish) L. Yarmush is an academic, American scientist, physician, and engineer known for his work in biotechnology and bioengineering. His faculty career began in 1984 at MIT in the Department of Chemical Engineering as a Principal Research Associate and Lucille P. Markey Scholar in Biomedical Science. In 1988 he joined Rutgers University, as Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and a member of the Center of Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. In 1995, he returned to the Boston area to serve as the Helen Andrus Benedict Professor of Surgery and Bioengineering in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and to establish the Center for Engineering in Medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Teaching Hospitals. In 2007 he returned to Rutgers to hold the Paul and Mary Monroe Endowed Chair in Science and Engineering and serve as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He also holds a Lecturer in Surgery and Bioengineering position at Harvard Medical School, and is a member of the Senior Scientific Staff at the Shriners children's hospital in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biomedical sciences</span> Application of science to healthcare

Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbiology, clinical virology, clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and biomedical engineering are medical sciences. In explaining physiological mechanisms operating in pathological processes, however, pathophysiology can be regarded as basic science.

The Case Western Reserve University Department of Biomedical Engineering launched in 1968 as one of the first biomedical engineering programs in the world. Formally incorporated in both the School of Engineering and School of Medicine, the department provides full research and education programs and is consistently top-ranked for graduate and undergraduate studies, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Nirmala (Nimmi) Ramanujam is an educator, innovator, and entrepreneur. Ramanujam is recognized for creating globally accessible technologies for women’s health related to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment. She is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology and Global Health at Duke University. She founded the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies in 2013 to catalyze impactful research, educational and community outreach activities that promote women’s health. In 2023, she won the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Technical Field Award, given annually for outstanding contributions to the field of Biomedical engineering. In 2019, she received the social impact Abie Award for making a positive impact on women, technology, and society. She was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2017. She founded Calla Health to commercialize technologies developed at the center. Further she has created a number of initiatives and consortia including WISH, (In)visible Organ and IGNITE to have far reaching impact in cervical cancer, reproductive health and engineering design education, respectively.

References

  1. ↑ "Overview". www.ewh.org. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  2. ↑ "The Institutes | Engineering World Health".
  3. ↑ "Cambodia Revisited: Philip Camillocci continues to help developing nation". TechNation. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  4. ↑ "GE Foundation, Duke University World Healthcare Tech Lab, and Engineering World Health Establish Biomedical Equipment Training Program in Nigeria to Build Skills and Improve Capacity | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  5. ↑ "BMET Digital Library". library.ewh.org. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Rahhal, Tojan B.; Tracey, Michael R. "Annual Report October 2020 - September 2021" (PDF). Engineering World Health. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  7. ↑ "About Us". Stevens Initiative. Archived from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  8. 1 2 Tracey, Michael R.; Rahhal, Tojan B. "Annual Report October 2019—September 2020" (PDF). Engineering World Health. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  9. 1 2 Tracey, Michael R.; Calman, Leslie J. "Annual Report October 2018—September 2019" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  10. ↑ Tracey, Michael R.; Calman, Leslie J. "Annual Report October 2017—September 2018" (PDF). Engineering World Health. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  11. ↑ Tracey, Michael R.; Calman, Leslie J. "Annual Report October 2016—September 2017" (PDF). Engineering World Health. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  12. 1 2 Tracey, Michael R.; Calman, Leslie J. "Annual Report October 2015—September 2016" (PDF). Engineering World Health. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  13. ↑ Lee, Adrienne (12 October 2015). "Students Use Makerspace Resources to Create Award-Winning Patient Monitor - Cockrell School of Engineering". www.engr.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  14. ↑ "Home". Engineering World Health. Archived from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  15. ↑ "Home". Engineering World Health. Archived from the original on 2022-08-27. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.