This week Eastwood Park, (EWP), Training Ltd hosted members of the Institute of Healthcare Engineering & Estate Management, (IHEEM), Technical Panel in the first successful review of the Authorising Engineer Medical Engineering, (AE(ME)), three-day course. Whether you are for or against the AE(ME) role it has most certainly now been initiated and hopefully develop and become an asset in its own right in support of governance and assurance of healthcare organisations at the strategic/operational levels.
The AE(ME) role has been created as an independent ‘critical friend’ to the organisation’s management of medical devices, assist in accident investigation by providing an expert eye and support to career development of clinical/medical engineers.
The AE(ME) course covers specific topic areas of regulatory frameworks, management and conducting and audit that focuses on BS EN 91011, equipment replacement programs relating to the lifecycle of a medical device, managing, and conducting an audit, report writing and accident investigation techniques. Supported by structured assignments and presentations that provoke lively discourse, the course stretches and challenges conventional thoughts and views.
The course will go through a period of review with the assistance of the technical panel to ensure content meets the requirements of the role, at the right academic level and undergo the assurance process with City & Guilds. The next course is due to run in April 2026.
The positioning of the AE(ME) at strategic level has caused some confusion, but certainly medical devices and medical device management provides a crucial role in the delivery of safe and effective care for patients.
There is no doubt that an effective specific service delivery strategy, supported by a robust medical device management system is required to be in place to support the provision of high-quality care, supported by competent staff in the use and maintenance of medical devices and efficient deployment of the latest healthcare technology. This service specific strategy aligned to the organisational strategic aims places the AE(ME) within the organisational strategic analysis, planning, and assurance domain.
Should all healthcare organisations formulate a specific service strategy for medical device management and use that is aligned to the organisational strategic aims and objectives of the healthcare organisation? Absolutely!
There is intention to create an Authorising Person, (Medical Engineering), which to date is still relatively conceptual, however here at Eastwood Park Training we like to get ahead of the game and as a precursor to the establishment of this role our Medical Equipment Technical Management, (METM), course could meet the future training requirement as it complements the current AE(ME) course.
It is apparent that over the last few decades ‘clinical/medical engineering’ has quietly become biased and dominated in favor of the scientific community, and is especially noticeable in education, training, and routes to professional registration. Has it become too academic and scientific that sight of Good Engineering Practice has been lost in translation?
With clinical/medical engineering services predominantly being delivered by health estates the role of AE(ME) may begin to reset the balance to ensure both the science discipline and the engineering discipline are not competing for dominance, but Good Scientific Practice and Good Engineering Practice should provide a balanced contribution to the delivery of patient safety, deployment of current/future healthcare technology and run as a partnership.
The difference between scientists and engineers, well here is a brief analogy for readers to ponder:
The scientist has a ‘Eureka’ moment ……’I’ve found it…!!!’ The discoverer
The engineer has a ‘Voila’ moment……’Here it is….!!!’ The problem solver
