Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper

Abstract

Engineering has been playing an important role in serving and advancing healthcare. The term “Healthcare Engineering” has been used by professional societies, universities, scientific authors, and the healthcare industry for decades. However, the definition of “Healthcare Engineering” remains ambiguous. The purpose of this position paper is to present a definition of Healthcare Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a profession. Healthcare Engineering is defined in terms of what it is, who performs it, where it is performed, and how it is performed, including its purpose, scope, topics, synergy, education/training, contributions, and prospects.

Full text

Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No.4 · 2015Page 635–648
635
Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
Ming-Chien Chyu, PhD
1
*; Tony Austin, PhD
2
; Fethi Calisir, PhD
3
; Samuel
Chanjaplammootil, ME
4
; Mark J. Davis, BSIE, LSSBB
5
; Jesus Favela, PhD
6
;
Heng Gan, MBBCh, MRCPCH, FRCA
7
; Amit Gefen, PhD
8
; Ram Haddas, PhD
9
;
Shoshana Hahn-Goldberg, PhD
10
; Roberto Hornero, PhD
11
; Yu-Li Huang,
PhD
12
; Øystein Jensen
13
; Zhongwei Jiang, PhD
14
; J.S. Katsanis, PhD
15
; Jeong-A
Lee, PhD
16
; Gladius Lewis, PhD
17
; Nigel H. Lovell, PhD
18
; Heinz-Theo
Luebbers, MD, DMD
19
; George G. Morales, BSME, MBA
20
; Timothy Matis,
PhD
21
; Judith T. Matthews, PhD, MPH, RN
22
; Lukasz Mazur, PhD
23
; Eddie Yin-
Kwee Ng, Phd
24
; K.J. Oommen, MD
25
; Kevin Ormand, MSHA, PMP
26
; Tarald
Rohde
27
; Daniel Sánchez-Morillo, PhD
28
; Justo García Sanz-Calcedo, PhD
29
;
Mohamad Sawan, PhD
30
; Chwan-Li Shen, PhD
31
; Jiann-Shing Shieh, PhD
32
;
Chao-Ton Su, PhD
33
; Lilly Sun, PhD
34
; Mingui Sun, PhD
35
; Yi Sun, PhD
36
, Senay
N. Tewolde, PhD
37
; Eric A. Williams, MD, MS, MMM
38
; Chongjun Yan, PhD
39
;
Jiajie Zhang, PhD
40
; Yuan-Ting Zhang, PhD
41
1. Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Coordinator, Healthcare
Engineering Graduate Program, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
2. Helicon Health Ltd., London, UK.
3. Professor, Industrial Engineering Department; Dean, Management Faculty,
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey.
4. Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance, Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center - Permian Basin (Odessa, Midland, Abilene and
Dallas), Texas, USA.
5. Operational & Clinical Excellence Leader, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital,
Dallas, Texas, USA.
6. Professor, Computer Science Department, Center for Scientific Research and
Higher Education of Ensenada, Ensenada, Mexico.
7. Consultant Anaesthetist, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s
Health Partners, London, UK.
8. Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
9. Director of Research, Texas Back Institute Research Foundation, Plano, Texas,
USA.
*Corresponding author: Ming-Chien Chyu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, Texas 79409-1021, USA. Phone: (806) 834-8982. E-mail: m.chyu@ttu.edu. Other authors:
tonyaustin@heliconhealth.co.uk; calisirfet@itu.edu.tr; Samuel.Chanjaplammootil@ttuhsc.edu;
MarkJDavis@texashealth.org; favela@cicese.mx; heng.gan@gstt.nhs.uk; gefen@eng.tau.ac.il; rhaddas@tex-
asback.com; Shoshana.Hahn-Goldberg@uhn.ca; robhor@tel.uva.es; huang.yuli@mayo.edu;
oystein.jensen@ous-hf.no; jiang@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp; inmartek@otenet.gr; jalee@Chosun.ac.kr;
glewis@memphis.edu; N.Lovell@unsw.edu.au; tluebbers@bwh.harvard.edu; george.morales@ttuhsc.edu;
Timothy.Matis@ttu.edu; jtmatt@pitt.edu; lukasz_mazur@med.unc.edu; MYKNG@ntu.edu.sg; OOM-
MENKJ@covhs.org; kormand@chartis.com; Tarald.Rohde@sintef.no; daniel.morillo@uca.es; justogarci-
asanz@gmail.com; mohamad.sawan@polymtl.ca; Leslie.Shen@ttuhsc.edu; jsshieh@saturn.yzu.edu.tw;
ctsu@mx.nthu.edu.tw; lily.sun@reading.ac.uk; drsun@pitt.edu; yi.sun@uzleuven.be; ericw@bcm.edu; yan-
chongjun0607@163.com; Jiajie.Zhang@uth.tmc.edu; ytzhangapple@icloud.com.

636 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
10. University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
11. Head of the Biomedical Engineering Group, E.T.S. Ingenieros de
Telecomunicación, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
12. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
13. Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
14. Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Japan.
15. Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National
Technical University of Athens, Greece.
16. Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Chosun University, Korea
17. Professor, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
18. Scientia Professor, University of New South Wales, Graduate School of
Biomedical Engineering, Sydney, NSW Australia.
19. Surgical Planning Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA,
USA; University Hospital and Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich,
Zurich, Switzerland.
20. Assistant Vice President, Physical Plant & Support Services, Texas Tech
University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
21. Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Texas Tech
University, Texas, USA.
22. Research Associate Professor, School of Nursing and University Center for
Social and Urban Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA.
23. Director of Healthcare Engineering Division, School of Medicine, University
of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
24. Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore.
25. Director, Epilepsy Clinics, Covenant Medical Group; Chief, Section of Internal
Medicine, Covenant Hospital, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
26. Principal, The Chartis Group, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
27. SINTEF, Technology and Society, Hospital Planning, Oslo, Norway.
28. Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Telemedicine Research Group,
University of Cadiz, Spain.
29. Professor, Extremadura Public Healthcare Service, University of Extremadura,
Spain.
30. Professor, Polystim Neurotechnology Lab, Polytechnique, University of
Montreal, Canada.
31. Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA.
32. Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering; Director, Institute of
Mechanical Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
33. Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management,
National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
34. Professor, School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, UK.
35. Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Electrical Engineering;
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
36. Head of 3D Surgical Planning Lab – Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,
Department of Imaging & Pathology/OMFS-IMPATH Research Group,
University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
37. Senior Research Engineer, HJF Advancement of Military Medicine, Navy
Medical Research Unit, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No. 4 · 2015
637
38. Chief Quality Officer-Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital; Associate
Professor of Pediatrics, Sections of Critical Care and Cardiology, Baylor
College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
39. Professor, College of Management Science & Engineering, Dongbei University
of Finance and Economic, Dalian, China.
40. Dean, Glassell Family Foundation Distinguished Chair, Dr. Doris L. Ross
Professor, School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
41. Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.
Submitted August 2015. Accepted for publication October 2015.
ABSTRACT
Engineering has been playing an important role in serving and advancing healthcare. The term
“Healthcare Engineering” has been used by professional societies, universities, scientific authors,
and the healthcare industry for decades. However, the definition of “Healthcare Engineering”
remains ambiguous. The purpose of this position paper is to present a definition of Healthcare
Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a profession.
Healthcare Engineering is defined in terms of what it is, who performs it, where it is performed,
and how it is performed, including its purpose, scope, topics, synergy, education/training,
contributions, and prospects.
Keywords: Healthcare engineering, definition, purpose, scope, topics, synergy, jobs, education,
training, contributions, future
1. PREAMBLE
Engineering has been playing a crucial role in serving healthcare, bringing about
revolutionary advances in healthcare. Contributions have been made by engineers from
almost all engineering disciplines, such as Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer,
Electrical, Environmental, Industrial, Information, Materials, Mechanical, Software, and
Systems Engineering, as well as healthcare professionals such as physicians, dentists,
nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, and health scientists who are engaged in
supporting, improving, and/or advancing any aspect of healthcare through engineering
approaches. “Healthcare Engineering” is the most appropriate term to encompass such a
multi-disciplinary specialty, considering that advancing healthcare
is the common goal
for all such efforts made through engineering approaches. However, so far, a clear,
rigorous definition of “Healthcare Engineering” has never been documented.
Established over 50 years ago, the American Society of Healthcare Engineering
(ASHE) [1] was one of the first to publicize the term “Healthcare Engineering”. ASHE,
as well as its many local affiliate societies (e.g., [2]), has been mainly dedicated to the
health care physical environment, which represents only one sector of what engineers do
in healthcare. David and Goodman [3] first used the term “healthcare engineers” in the
scientific literature in 1989, where the critical role of the engineer in the healthcare
delivery system was discussed. A number of academic programs have adopted the term
“Healthcare Engineering” in their names (e.g., [4–13]). However, the
description/definition of “Healthcare Engineering” by these programs varies, as each

institution has designed its program based on its own distinctive interest, strength, focus,
and emphasis, and hence created a different description/definition accordingly. Each of
these versions of description/definition excellently portrays a certain facet of Healthcare
Engineering, though none reflects all dimensions of the discipline. Further, the Journal of
Healthcare Engineering [14], launched in 2010, focuses on engineering involved in all
aspects of healthcare delivery processes and systems. “Healthcare Engineering” has also
appeared in the commercial names of healthcare companies with various foci.
The purpose of this document is to present a clear, rigorous definition of Healthcare
Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a
profession, as well as its prospects. The co-authors are all active members and
contributors to the Healthcare Engineering community from different parts of the
world. This document is based on our knowledge and experience accumulated through
years of serving and promoting Healthcare Engineering.
2. HEALTHCARE ENGINEERING DEFINED
Healthcare Engineering is defined in this section in terms of what it is, who performs
it, where it is performed, and how it is performed.
2.1. What
2.1.1. Definition
In the short and straightforward version, “Healthcare Engineering” can be defined as
follows:
Healthcare Engineering is engineering involved in all aspects of healthcare.
The term “engineering” covers all engineering disciplines such as Biomedical,
Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial, Information,
Materials, Mechanical, Software, and Systems Engineering.
A more elaborated definition can be developed based on “healthcare” defined as:
• “The maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, especially
through the provision of medical services” [15].
• “The prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of
mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and
allied health professions.” [16].
Therefore, a more detailed definition of Healthcare Engineering is the following:
Healthcare Engineering is engineering involved in all aspects of the prevention,
diagnosis, treatment, and management of illness, as well as the preservation and
improvement of physical and mental health and well-being, through the services
offered to humans by the medical and allied health professions.
2.1.2. Purpose
The purpose of Healthcare Engineering is to improve human health and well-being
through engineering approaches.
2.1.3. Scope
Healthcare Engineering covers the following two major areas:
638 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper

(I) Engineering for Healthcare Intervention
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (USDHHS) [17] defines “healthcare
intervention” as “Any type of treatment, preventive care, or test that a person could take
or undergo to improve health or to help with a particular problem”. USDHHS further
specifies that healthcare interventions include drugs, foods, supplements, vaccinations,
screening tests, exercises, hospital treatment, and certain kinds of care (such as physical
therapy).
(II) Engineering for Healthcare Systems
“Healthcare system” is defined as:
• “The complete network of agencies, facilities, and all providers of health care in
a specified geographic area” [18].
• “Complex of facilities, organizations, and trained personnel engaged in providing
health care within a geographical area.” [19].
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) [20], a good health system
requires “a robust financing mechanism; a well-trained and adequately paid workforce;
reliable information on which to base decisions and policies; well maintained facilities
and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies.”
Therefore, the scope of Healthcare Engineering can be stated as the following:
“Healthcare Engineering covers the following two major fields:
I. Engineering for Healthcare Intervention: Engineering involved in the
development or provision of any treatment, preventive care, or test that a
person could take or undergo to improve health or to help with a particular
health problem.
II. Engineering for Healthcare Systems: Engineering involved in the complete
network of organizations, agencies, facilities, information systems,
management systems, financing mechanisms, logistics, and all trained
personnel engaged in delivering healthcare within a geographical area.”
2.1.4. Subjects
Based on the scope delineated above, the major subjects of Healthcare Engineering are
listed in Table 1. Each subject may have its own ramification system covering a
number of topics. For instance, within Biomechanics, there are Micro-biomechanics
and Macro-biomechanics. Micro-biomechanics further consists of Nano-
biomechanics, Molecular Biomechanics, Cellular Biomechanics, and Tissue
Biomechanics, with each of them covering a number of topics or even further
ramifications. It is unnecessary and impractical for Table 1 to include all those
subfields and topics for each subject. As technology progresses, new topics will
emerge, while some old topics may become obsolete or be subsumed under others in
the future. If we list Healthcare Engineering topics in Table 1, there is no mechanism
available for us to update them once this white paper is published in an archival
journal. We recommend lists of topics provided and continually updated by
authoritative sources such as those leading societies/associations of individual subjects
and government organizations.
Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No. 4 · 2015
639

(I) Engineering for Healthcare Intervention
A. Fundamentals
1. Biomechanics
2. Biomaterials
3. Biomedical Instruments
4. Medical Devices
5. Engineering for Surgery
6. Medical Imaging
7. Organ Transplantation
8. Artificial Organs
9. Drug Delivery
10. Genetic Engineering
11. Engineering for
Diagnosis/Detection
12. Health Informatics, Information
Engineering & Decision Support
13. Disinfection Engineering
B. Engineering for Disease Prevention,
Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management
1. Cardiovascular Disease
2. Cancer
3. Alzheimer’s Disease
4. Diabetes
5. Respiratory Disease
6. Obesity
7. Degenerative Diseases
8. Others
C. Engineering for Patient Care
1. Patient Safety
2. Critical Care
3. Neonatal Care
4. Home Healthcare
5. Elderly Care
6. Patient Monitoring
7. Health Disparities
8. Disaster Management
D. Engineering for Medical Specialties
1. Allergy and Immunology
2. Anesthesiology
3. Cardiology
4. Critical Care Medicine
5. Emergency Medicine
6. Endocrinology
7. Gastroenterology
8. General Surgery
9. Geriatrics
10. Infectious Disease
11. Neurology
12. Neurosurgery
13. Nuclear Medicine
14. Occupational Medicine
15. Oncology
16. Ophthalmology
17. Orthopedics
18. Pathology
19. Pediatrics
20. Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation
21. Plastic, Reconstructive and
Aesthetic Surgery
22. Public Health
23. Pulmonology
24. Radiology
25. Radiotherapy
26. Rheumatology
27. Sports Medicine
28. Urology
29. Vascular Medicine
E. Engineering for Dental Specialties
1. Endodontics
2. Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology,
Radiology, and Surgery
3. Orthodontics and Dentofacial
Orthopedics
4. Periodontics
5. Prosthodontics
6. Others
F. Engineering for Allied Health Specialties
1. Audiology
2. Clinical Laboratory Science
3. Environmental Health
640 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
Table 1. Healthcare Engineering subjects

Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No. 4 · 2015
641
4. Occupational Therapy
5. Orthotics and prosthetics
6. Physical Therapy
7. Rehabilitation
8. Respiratory Therapy
9. Speech Therapy
10. Others
G. Engineering for Nursing - including nurs-
ing in all related areas, particularly (I)B,
C, D, E, (II)A, and B.
H. Engineering for Pharmacy
1. Pharmaceutical Design &
Development
2. Bio-/Pharmaceutical
Manufacturing
3. Pharmaceutical Devices
4. Pharmaceutical Testing
5. Pharmaceutical Information
Systems
6. Clinical Science
7. Regulatory Compliance
(II) Engineering for Healthcare Systems
A. Healthcare System Management,
Improvement & Reform
1. Quality, Cost, Efficiency,
Effectiveness
2. Operations Research & Systems
Engineering
3. Lean, Six Sigma, Total Quality
Management
4. Human Factors
5. High Reliability Organization
6. Resilience Engineering
7. Rural Health
B. Healthcare Information Systems
1. Electronic Health Record
2. E-Health
3. M-Health
4. Telemedicine
5. Wireless Technology
6. Data Mining & Big Data
7. Information Security
C. Healthcare Facilities
1. Healthcare Infrastructure
2. Healthcare Energy Systems
3. Healthcare Sustainability &
Green Design
4. Environmental Health and Safety
D. Healthcare Policy
(III) Others
A. Healthcare Engineering Education &
Training
1. Collegiate Education
2. Continued Education
B. Future of Healthcare
2.1.5. Synergy
Healthcare Engineering includes the healthcare/medical sectors of all engineering
disciplines, with an emphasis on the synergy of all these sectors and the
engineering/technology sectors of the Health Sciences (medicine, dentistry, allied
health, nursing, pharmacy, public health, etc.), as depicted in Figure 1.
2.2. Who
2.2.1. Definition
Healthcare Engineering professionals are mainly (a) engineers from all engineering
disciplines such as Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Environmental,
Industrial, Information, Materials, Mechanical, Software, and Systems Engineering,
and (b) healthcare professionals such as physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists,
allied health professionals, and health scientists, who are engaged in supporting,
improving, and/or advancing any aspect of healthcare through engineering
approaches, in accordance with the above definition of Healthcare Engineering. Since
some healthcare professionals engaged in Healthcare Engineering may not be
considered to be “engineers”, “Healthcare Engineering professional” is a more
appropriate term than “Healthcare Engineer”.

642 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
Figure 1. Healthcare Engineering: synergy of engineering and health sciences. Red
block: All engineering disciplines. Green block: All health sciences
disciplines. Blue block: All Healthcare Engineering disciplines.
Engineering
(Biomedical, Chemical, Civil,
Computer, Electrical, Environmental,
Industrial, Information, Materials, Mechanical,
Software, System, etc.)
Health sciences
(Meidicine, Dentistry,
Allied Health,
Nursing, Pharmacy,
Public Health, etc.)
Healthcare engineering
(Healthcare/medical sectors of all
engineering disciplines
+
engineering/
technology sectors of health
sciences)
2.2.2. Education & Training
Engineers from various engineering disciplines are always in demand in healthcare, as
the engineering issues in healthcare require the expertise of specific engineering
disciplines. It is a common misconception that only engineers with a background in
Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Engineering, or related areas may work in
healthcare. However, a major issue is that most existing engineering curricula
(particularly undergraduate ones) do not cover sufficient healthcare content, except
those in the bio-related areas. There is a need for courses that can fill the gap and better
prepare non-biomedical engineering students for service in healthcare. There is also a
need for certificate programs that can help practicing engineers transition from other
sectors of industry to healthcare which is one of the world’s largest and fastest-
growing industries. On the other hand, healthcare professionals (physicians, dentists,
nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, etc.) need to be better trained to apply
engineering to their practice, problem solving, and advancing healthcare. Due to the
rapid advance of technology, continuing education plays a crucial role in keeping
Healthcare Engineering professionals abreast of such advancement and ensuring their
continued competence, be they trend followers or innovation leaders. Additionally,
since the nature of Healthcare Engineering often requires inter-disciplinary or even
inter-professional collaboration among varied disciplines of both healthcare and
engineering, there is a need for learning opportunities that develop students’ key
competencies for working with Healthcare Engineering professionals in the real world,
such as through joint projects between universities and hospitals.

Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No. 4 · 2015
643
2.3. Where
Healthcare Engineering activities generally take place within or surrounding the
healthcare industry. In other words, the purpose of Healthcare Engineering is achieved
by professionals working in/with/for the healthcare industry. A description of the
healthcare industry affords a better understanding of the types of Healthcare Engineering
jobs, the roles played by Healthcare Engineering professionals, the importance of
Healthcare Engineering, and Healthcare Engineering professionals’ contributions to
society. Although individuals working on Healthcare Engineering in universities,
research institutions, government agencies, and other non-industrial organizations may
not be working within the healthcare industry per se, they typically collaborate with or
work for some sectors of the healthcare industry, or make results of their works available
through publications for the healthcare industry’s adoption, in order for their work to
benefit human health.
The healthcare industry is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries,
and could even be the largest industry in the world [21], and the fastest-growing
industry in the US [22]. Healthcare industry is defined as [23]:
“The complex of preventive, remedial, and therapeutic services provided by
hospitals and other institutions, nurses, doctors, dentists, medical administrators,
government agencies, voluntary agencies, noninstitutional care facilities,
pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers, and health insurance
companies.”
Based on the framework of the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) [24], a
definitive system categorizing over 70,000 companies and 75,000 securities worldwide
and one of the most widely adopted such standards in the business community, major
sectors and subsectors of healthcare industry are presented in Table 2. The original ICB
classification is changed as we deem appropriate; for instance, a sector of healthcare
consulting, support, and education, and a subsector of healthcare systems have been
created.
2.4. How
Healthcare Engineering professionals perform their jobs in/with/for the healthcare
industry. Their contributions to various sectors and subsectors of the healthcare industry
are summarized in Table 2.
3. PROSPECTS
The healthcare industry is expected to remain to be one of the world’s largest and
fastest-growing industries, and the demand for Healthcare Engineering professionals
will continue to grow accordingly. As healthcare changes rapidly and becomes
increasingly complex under technological, economic, social, and regulatory impacts, it
is anticipated that Healthcare Engineering will play a role of growing importance in
almost every aspect of healthcare, and will also be a major factor that advances
healthcare. Healthcare Engineering professionals will face challenges associated with
issues such as the continued rise in healthcare costs, the quality and safety of healthcare,

644 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
Healthcare
services,
equipment,
and systems
Health care
providers
Medical
equipment
Medical
supplies
Health maintenance
organizations, hospitals,
clinics, dentists, allied
health providers, opti-
cians, nursing homes,
rehabilitation facilities,
retirement centers, and
home healthcare
providers.
Manufacturers and dis-
tributors of medical
instruments (e.g., blood
pressure monitor), med-
ical devices (e.g., surgi-
cal robot), imaging
machines (e.g., X-ray,
MRI), artificial organs,
and other non-dispos-
able medical devices as
well as medical soft-
ware.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals play key
roles in creating and devel-
oping hardware and soft-
ware to innovate, support,
improve and optimize the
operation processes and
systems of patient care,
and to improve patient out-
comes through engineering
approaches.
This is an area heavily
relying on engineering
expertise, and where
Healthcare Engineering
professionals make major
contributions in basic
research that leads to
technology breakthroughs,
as well as subsequent
design, development, and
manufacturing of medical
devices and equipment.
Manufacturers and dis-
tributors of medical sup-
plies used by health care
providers and the general
public, including makers
of implants, contact lens-
es, eyeglass lenses, ban-
dages and other dispos-
able medical supplies.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals contribute to
the research & develop-
ment of new products and
manufacturing in terms of
process design, machinery,
automation, quality con-
trol, and cost reduction.
Table 2. Healthcare industry classification and contributions of
Healthcare Engineering
Healthcare Industry Contributions of Healthcare
Sector Subsector Definition Engineering

Journal of Healthcare Engineering · Vol. 6 · No. 4 · 2015
645
Healthcare
systems
Biotechnology
Pharma-
ceuticals
Companies that special-
ize in healthcare systems
including facilities,
information, financial,
and other systems.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals work with
healthcare providers to
design, construct, improve,
and/or operate healthcare
facilities, information,
financial, and other health-
care systems, following
special regulations.
Pharma-
ceuticals and
biotechnology
Companies engaged in
research into and devel-
opment of biological
substances leading to
new drugs and/or med-
ical procedures.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals lead or par-
ticipate in research and
development of cutting-
edge technologies for new
drugs (including drug dis-
covery, design, develop-
ment, and delivery) and
advanced medical proce-
dures for the prevention,
diagnosis, treatment, and
management of illnesses.
Manufacturers of pre-
scription or over-the-
counter drugs, such as
aspirin, cold remedies and
birth control pills, includ-
ing vaccine producers.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals contribute to
the pharmaceutical manu-
facturing processes in
terms of process design,
unit operation, quality con-
trol, and cost reduction.
Healthcare
consulting,
support, and
education
Companies that provide
consulting service and
support to healthcare,
as well as continued
education to healthcare
personnel.
Healthcare Engineering
professionals provide con-
sulting service, support,
and education on all
aspects of healthcare
involving engineering,
such as optimizing health-
care operations, solving
problems, providing infor-
matics service, as well as
designing, planning
and/or executing new pro-
jects.

646 Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper
care of the aging population, management of common diseases, the impact of high
technology, increasing demands for regulatory compliance, risk management, and
reducing litigation risk. They will play a key role in creating, developing, and
implementing cutting-edge devices and systems attributed to advances in electronics,
information technology, miniaturization, material science, optics, and other fields. As
technology continues to create new areas for engineers to work in healthcare, and the
fusion of engineering with health sciences leads to a greater demand for engineers,
Healthcare Engineering will be recognized as the most important profession where
engineers make major contributions directly benefiting human health.
4. CONCLUDING REMARKS
In presenting a definition of Healthcare Engineering as an academic discipline, an area
of research, a field of specialty, and a profession, we expect this document to have
impacts in terms of the following:
• Raising the status and visibility of Healthcare Engineering.
• Helping students choose Healthcare Engineering-related fields as majors.
• Helping engineers and healthcare professionals choose Healthcare Engineering as
a profession.
• Defining Healthcare Engineering as a specialty area for the research community,
funding agencies, and conference/event organizers.
• Helping job searching databases properly categorize Healthcare Engineering jobs.
• Helping healthcare employers recruit from the right pool of expertise.
• Bringing academic administrators’ attention to Healthcare Engineering in
considering new program initiations.
• Helping governments and institutions of different levels put Healthcare
Engineering into perspective for policy making, budgeting, and other purposes.
• Helping publishers and librarians categorize literature related to Healthcare
Engineering.
It is our humble belief that this document will serve as a cornerstone for the
development of Healthcare Engineering in decades to come.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank more than 280 reviewers, including members of US National
Academy of Engineering, Engineering Deans of the world’s top universities,
administrators and faculty members of Healthcare Engineering academic programs,
leaders of healthcare/medical and engineering professional societies/associations,
leaders of healthcare industry and government, and Healthcare Engineering
professionals from all over the world who reviewed and/or offered constructive
comments and suggestions to improve this paper.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors indicated no potential conflicts of interest.

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