Jeffrey
In what direction is biomechanics engineering heading?
I am interested in developing and improving medical devices to improve people's quality of life. There have been so many amazing developments in this area lately, but I was wondering in which direction the field was trending- where would I be able to best get involved? #engineering #medicine
2 answers
Jennifer C
Jennifer’s Answer
Hi Jeffrey,
It's great that you want to get involved in the biomechanical field. To pursue designing medical devices, particularly from the mechanical side, I would strongly encourage you to do some research into mechanical, materials, or even industrial engineering and see if you like those. You can always supplement your education with other bio/biomedical courses.
Of course, there are other ways to get involved as well. For example, I am a manufacturing engineering, so while I don't develop medical devices, I work to make sure our processes and tooling for building the devices is easy to understand, repeatable, and that our devices pass all the necessary inspections and tests before they go to the customer.
Good luck!
-J
Sarah Williams
Sarah’s Answer
There is almost no limit to the creativity that can be applied to the medical device field! It's hard to give you a specific trend or two to focus on. Jennifer gave you some great advice as far as how different engineers can support different trends in the medical device industry. From a "big picture" point of view, here are some trending healthcare needs around the globe that might spark your imagination:
- The world population overall is aging, especially in industrialized nations such as the US, various countries in Europe, and China. What technologies or devices can help people age in a more healthy way? How can technology help support the healthcare workers who care for this population?
- There are many disparities and inequities in healthcare access across the globe. How can technology help connect doctors to more remote patients? How can life-saving technologies, medicines, or devices be delivered to these patients? How can technology help reduce burden on doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals so they have more time to connect with people vs. doing work that could be automated?
- Through manufacturing, cleaning/sterilization, and packaging, healthcare products can put burden on the environment if not designed and used responsibly. What technologies and innovations can we use to make greener products while maintaining the high safety and performance requirements our patients need and deserve?