Department of Clinical Engineering
Educating students to be clinical engineers who can contribute on site by teaching “medical service” and “engineering” in good balance.
The Department of Clinical Engineering offers an undergraduate major leading to a B.S. degree in clinical engineering. Clinical engineers in Japan specialize not only in the maintenance of medical equipment but also in treatments using medical equipment such as hemodialysis machines, heart–lung machines, ventilators, and pacemakers. It is a licensed job that requires a national qualification.
Medical equipment has been used for many decades for diagnostic purposes : electrocardiography, electroencephalography, X-ray machines, computed tomography, and laboratory equipment, to name a few. Medical equipment for treating patients is relatively new and fundamentally enhances medical practice. Such equipment saves many lives and supports complex operations in surgery. Since these machines support the life of patients, their operators require specialized training to gain a deep understanding of medical equipment and its maintenance, as well as basic and clinical medicine, basic electrical and mechanical engineering principles, biomaterials, and safety management.
The medical license of clinical engineering is a unique qualification awarded in Japan only, and extends the role of biomedical engineering into the clinical setting for the treatment of patients through the use of highly advanced equipment.
The licenses acquired by the students
It is possible to aquire the following lisences in Department of Clinical Engineering
- Clinical Engineer
- Certificate Examination for Biomedical Engineering (Class 1)
- Certificate Examination for Biomedical Engineering (Class 2)
※Clinical Engineer
Note: Clinical engineers in Japan specialize not only in the maintenance of medical equipment but also in treatments using medical equipment such as hemodialysis machines, heart–lung machines, ventilators, and pacemakers. The clinical engineer is a licensed and registered allied health professional. This qualification is unique to Japan and the license is not valid in other countries.
Faculty Member
You can refer to information about the department here.
Curriculum
The Department of Clinical Engineering offers programs to train licensed clinical engineers. The curriculum includes studies on life support equipment, medical equipment safety management, biomedical materials science, and related clinical medicine. The department also offers basic medicine, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, and statistics as subspecialized courses. In addition, the school offers basic science courses such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Also, our unique program called “fundamentals of allied health care professionals” provides courses in medical ethics, team medicine, and clinical communications.
Curriculum Flow
- Understanding the basis of Medicine, Clinical Engineering and its duties
- The core program called “Fundamentals of Allied Health Care Professionals" comprises courses in medical ethics, team medicine, clinical communications, public health, nutrition, advanced medicine, pharmacology, and medical information science. Also, basic medicine courses such as anatomy and physiology are offered. Students are also required to study basic science such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology while studying basic engineering principles.
- Basic study of Clinical Engineering
- Related basic and clinical medicine courses such as pathology, clinical biochemistry, cardiology and respiratory medicine are offered. Also, students study fundamental electrical and electronic engineering, fundamental mechanical engineering, and medical equipment safety management.
- To study a Clinical Engineers’ work and duties
- The program offers courses on life support equipment, and related courses on diagnostic and imaging equipment. These courses focus on both the machinery and the related medical and pathological issues.
- The laboratory courses offer practice sessions using actual medical equipment and simulators as pre-clinical training
- The courses include clinical internship in which students receive clinical training in hemodialysis, heart–lung machines for cardiovascular surgery, and the intensive care unit. Students also produce a graduation thesis to train them in literature searches, logical thinking, laboratory skills, and presentation techniques. Finally, review courses are offered to complement and connect textbook knowledge with clinical practice.
