This paper introduces the background, definition and duties of the clinical engineering technicians in Japan and their education and examination systems.
Biomedical Engineering ; education ; standards ; Japan ; Licensure ; standards

Based on the rankings of the best undergraduate/graduate biomedical engineering programs from the USA News & World Report, we have made a comprehensive analysis on the excellent education mode in USA 2002. It is hoped that the results as reference materials will be useful to our biomedical education at home.
Biomedical Engineering ; education ; Education, Graduate ; Humans ; Teaching ; United States

Bioengineering majors require students to acquire excellent abilities of thinking and analyzing complex problems and have high requirements for students' comprehensive practical skills. Because of the professional characteristics, it is necessary to develop students' abilities to solve complex problems via the teaching of a series of experiments. Therefore, it is particularly important to reform the traditional experiment teaching for students majoring in bioengineering to improve the teaching quality, which have great significance for the cultivation of comprehensive talents. In this study, with the advantages of geographical location and resources to cultivate application-oriented innovative talents, the course group of Comprehensive Experiment of Bioengineering has designed the course based on virtual simulation technology in Binzhou University. Taking the experiment of extraction and bioactivity analysis of Suaeda salsa (growing in the Yellow River Delta) polysaccharide in fermentation as a case, we studied the course design idea, experimental process, teaching method and result analysis, and have improved the teaching performance. This case analysis provides new ideas and content reference for the teaching reform of similar courses.
Bioengineering/education* ; Biomedical Engineering/education* ; Humans ; Students ; Technology ; Universities

The "new engineering" concept requires that in addition to laying a solid professional foundation, engineering colleges and universities in China should also pay attention to improving the humanistic quality and developing a professional ethics education in training the engineering and technical talents. One important way is to carry out the engineering ethics education. By referring to the mature case-teaching ideas around the world and combining the practical experience accumulated in recent years, this paper focuses on the curriculum development and teaching reform of engineering ethics for students studying biological and medical engineering, from the perspectives of case selection and teaching method innovation. It also introduces some typical case studies, and summarizes the teaching effect analyzed from questionnaire.
Humans ; Curriculum ; Engineering/education* ; Students ; Ethics, Professional ; Biology/education*

Taking Duke University as an example, this article makes a comparison between the major of biomedical engineering in the Southeast University and that in American universities in term of subject direction, faculty, teaching principle and status of publishing academic papers. Through the comparison and analysis, the problems we face were explored. From the comparison and summary the future improvements in four aspects, such as strengthening the interdisciplinary among different majors, etc. so as to provide an inspiration on the future perspectives of research and teaching in biomedical engineering in China.
Biomedical Engineering ; education ; China ; Curriculum ; Education, Medical, Continuing ; Education, Medical, Undergraduate ; United States ; Universities

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a transformative technology with a potentially wide range of applications in the field of orthopaedic spine surgery. This article aims to review the current applications, limitations, and future developments of 3D printing technology in orthopaedic spine surgery. Current preoperative applications of 3D printing include construction of complex 3D anatomic models for improved visual understanding, preoperative surgical planning, and surgical simulations for resident education. Intraoperatively, 3D printers have been successfully used in surgical guidance systems and in the creation of patient specific implantable devices. Furthermore, 3D printing is revolutionizing the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, allowing construction of biocompatible scaffolds suitable for cell growth and vasculature. Advances in printing technology and evidence of positive clinical outcomes are needed before there is an expansion of 3D printing applied to the clinical setting.
Education ; Humans ; Models, Anatomic ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Regenerative Medicine ; Spine ; Tissue Engineering

We examined community-level characteristics associated with free drinking water access policies in U.S. municipalities using data from a nationally representative survey of city managers/officials from 2,029 local governments in 2014. Outcomes were 4 free drinking water access policies. Explanatory measures were population size, rural/urban status, census region, poverty prevalence, education, and racial/ethnic composition. We used multivariable logistic regression to test differences and presented only significant findings. Many (56.3%) local governments had at least one community plan with a written objective to provide free drinking water in outdoor areas; municipalities in the Northeast and South regions and municipalities with ≤ 50% of non-Hispanic whites were less likely and municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have a plan. About 59% had polices/budget provisions for free drinking water in parks/outdoor recreation areas; municipalities in the Northeast and South regions were less likely and municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have it. Only 9.3% provided development incentives for placing drinking fountains in outdoor, publicly accessible areas; municipalities with larger population size were more likely to have it. Only 7.7% had a municipal plumbing code with a drinking fountain standard that differed from the statewide plumbing code; municipalities with a lower proportion of non-Hispanic whites were more likely to have it. In conclusion, over half of municipalities had written plans or a provision for providing free drinking water in parks, but providing development incentives or having a local plumbing code provision were rare.
Censuses ; Drinking Water* ; Drinking* ; Education ; Logistic Models ; Motivation ; Population Density ; Poverty ; Prevalence ; Recreation ; Sanitary Engineering

The curriculum reform was undertaken at Kyungpook National University School of Medicine (KNUSM) to meet new educational objectives in order to cope with a rapid societal changes anticipated occurring in 21st century. The KNUSM Curriculum Development Committee was charged to formulate a new curriculum, which consisted of enhancement of patient-centered care based clerkship, integrated courses based on organ systems, problem-based learning, and additional teaching on social medicine, medical informatics and biomedical engineering. The philosophy of this curricular reform has been to modify methods of teaching medical students toward self-directed learning and student-centered. This whole concept was a drastic departure from the traditional lecturing. In the new curriculum, total of 180 credit courses, 4395 hours to graduate medical school were reduced to 170 credit courses, 4250 hours. As a part of the social medicine course, a 2 credit-hour course on patient-doctor relationship was taught and two credit-hour PBL tutorials were added to freshman, sophomore and junior years. In order to carry out this education reform, three new departments were inaugurated such as Biomedical Engineering, Medical Informatics and Medical Education. The school facility has also been improved during this preparatory period. The new curriculum has been implemented in 1999 academic year after approximately 4 years of preparatory period and annual faculty workshops have been held to monitor the progress of the reform and improve courses by evaluating impact of the change on both faculty members and students as well. The interim evaluation revealed several issues remained to be resolved. In conclusion, the acceptance of this reform was excellent from both faculty members and students although there have been continuous problem solving and adjustments necessary. The real assessment of the outcome of the reform requires many years to come and there has to be continuous monitoring of the progress and adjustment of curriculum are the pivotal of a success of the sort of education reform.
Biomedical Engineering ; Curriculum* ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Gyeongsangbuk-do* ; Humans ; Learning ; Medical Informatics ; Patient-Centered Care ; Philosophy ; Problem Solving ; Problem-Based Learning ; Schools, Medical ; Social Medicine ; Students, Medical

Low back pain in computer terminal operators is a very common but important symptom. While the occupational risk factors of low back pain were approved obscurely, there have been few studies on analysis or understanding of occupational risk factors. Therefore, we studied occupational risk factors of low back pain, especially for ergonomic factors as well as general characteristics of workers. We selected 98 subjects for this study, computer terminal operators ordinary using computers in Pusan. We calculated the subjective severity of low back pain of each operator by the Low Back Pain Scoring System. The relation of low back pain score to general characteristics of worker was also analyzed. We analyzed the relationship between low back pain score and individual efforts to prevent low back pain. We measured the ergonomic factors of each computer terminal operator - Trunk Jnclination(TI), Arm Flexion(AF), Elbow Angle(EA), Head Tilting(HT), Knee Angle(KA), using of foot plate and gap between the popliteum and chair. The correlations between these ergonomic factors and low back pain score were then analyzed. And the results are as follows: 1. The prevalence rate of low back pain in computer terminal operators was 39.8% in this study, when low back pain score was converted by the low back pain scoring system. 2. According to general characteristics of workers related to low back pain, the scores were higher in the older age group, the married and the longer work carriers. (p < 0.05) 3. In the analysis of the relationship between low back pain score and individual effort to prevent low back pain, regular exercise, history of schooling for prevention of low back pain, and declaration of intention to participate in low back pain education or exercise were stastistically significant(p < 0.05). And the more severe the low back pain, the higher the intention to participate in low back pain education they had in this study. 4. In the analyses of relationships or correlations between low back pain score and each of the 7 categories of ergonomic factors, only head tilting had a weak reverse correlation with low back pain(r=-0.2999, p < 0.01). From now on, cohort studies for the risk factors of low back pain of workers, who have been forced to work in non-ergonomical positioning at the work site, will be necessary. On the background of these ergonomic studies, the occupational health profession should be required to manage ergonomic working conditions.
Arm ; Busan ; Cohort Studies ; Computer Terminals* ; Education ; Elbow ; Foot ; Head ; Human Engineering ; Humans ; Intention ; Knee ; Low Back Pain* ; Occupational Health ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors* ; Workplace

OBJECTIVE: To better understand the ergonomics associated with robotic surgery including physical discomfort and symptoms, factors influencing symptom reporting, and robotic surgery systems components recommended to be improved. METHODS: The anonymous survey included 20 questions regarding demographics, systems, ergonomics, and physical symptoms and was completed by experienced robotic surgeons online through American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) and Society of Robotic Surgery (SRS). RESULTS: There were 289 (260 gynecology, 22 gynecology-oncology, and 7 urogynecology) gynecologic surgeon respondents regularly practicing robotic surgery. Statistical data analysis was performed using the t-test, χ² test, and logistic regression. One hundred fifty-six surgeons (54.0%) reported experiencing physical symptoms or discomfort. Participants with higher robotic case volume reported significantly lower physical symptom report rates (p<0.05). Gynecologists who felt highly confident about managing ergonomic settings not only acknowledged that the adjustments were helpful for better ergonomics but also reported a lower physical symptom rate (p<0.05). In minimizing their symptoms, surgeons changed ergonomic settings (32.7%), took a break (33.3%) or simply ignored the problem (34%). Fingers and neck were the most common body parts with symptoms. Eye symptom complaints were significantly decreased with the Si robot (p<0.05). The most common robotic system components to be improved for better ergonomics were microphone/speaker, pedal design, and finger clutch. CONCLUSION: More than half of participants reported physical symptoms which were found to be primarily associated with confidence in managing ergonomic settings and familiarity with the system depending on the volume of robotic cases. Optimal guidelines and education on managing ergonomic settings should be implemented to maximize the ergonomic benefits of robotic surgery.
Anonyms and Pseudonyms ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Demography ; Education ; Fingers ; Gynecology ; Human Body ; Human Engineering* ; Logistic Models ; Neck ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Robotic Surgical Procedures ; Surgeons* ; Surveys and Questionnaires