Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

8 ways electrical engineering is changing medicine

By Natasha Townsend | January 11, 2013

Share

Electrical engineering (EE) is a field that goes beyond electricity and electrical components. In today’s world, EE’s are used frequently in the medical profession. Here are eight ways that EE’s are contributing to the medical field by developing products or software, and researching or working collaboratively with researchers in biomedical fields.

1.)   Apps:
Doctors now have the ability to hit an app, input symptoms, and obtain a proper diagnosis. This may seem unreliable; however, there is a community of doctors that contribute their medical expertise, which helps other doctors.

2.)   Paperless charts:
Paperless charts are charts that are on-line. Wherever a patient goes to receive treatment, their medical record follows. This system of record keeping helps medical professionals make proper diagnosis immediately, because of the access to the patient’s history and care.

3.)   Developing regenerative tissues:
It involves developing materials that can correct themselves — tissue engineering, stem cell research, and artificial muscle. These innovations are dependent on a good understanding of life sciences and living tissue, as well as a solid understanding of physical sciences.

4.)   Robotic systems:
Nanorobotic devices would be a boon to the biomedical arena, as they would offer the ability to manipulate single cells, to deliver small amounts of material at precise locations, and, in general, do useful physical work on the atomic scale.

5.)   Early detection tools:
A suite of tools uses optical technologies to analyze cells for the presence of cancer. It has shown that nanoscale changes in cells caused by cancer can be detected using optical techniques called partial-wave spectroscopy, low-coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy, and four-dimensional elastic light-scattering fingerprinting.

6.)   Contact, flow, and touch sensors:
Contact sensors could be used in catheters for minimally invasive surgery, flow sensors could be used in IV lines, and touch sensors are already used in robotic surgical tools to help increase efficiency and accuracy.

7.)   Computerized catalogs of health information:
It enhances the medical system’s ability to track the spread of disease and analyze the comparative effectiveness of different approaches to prevention and therapy.

8.)   Tools and techniques:
EE’s are developing new systems to use genetic information, sense small changes in the body, assess new drugs, and deliver vaccines. More effective tools and techniques for rapid analysis and diagnosis are used for a variety of drugs, quick screenings, and proper treatments.

For all future, aspiring engineers and those currently in the field of engineering, working in the medical field may be an option to consider.

Special thanks to: The National Academy of Engineering of the National Academies; The University of Minnesota; Center for Engineering in Medicine;

Test & Measurement Tips


Filed Under: Test & Measurement Tips

 

Related Articles Read More >

eBay
When to buy used test equipment
TRACO Power now sells cost-optimized 1-A POL converters with 6-to-36-V input range
eye diagram
Simpler debugging for Automotive Ethernet systems
E+H-Prosonic-flowmeter
Flowmeter for industrial water, feedwater, cooling water and condensate

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Renishaw next-generation FORTiS™ enclosed linear encoders offer enhanced metrology and reliability for machine tools
  • WAGO’s smartDESIGNER Online Provides Seamless Progression for Projects
  • Epoxy Certified for UL 1203 Standard
  • The Importance of Industrial Cable Resistance to Chemicals and Oils
  • Optimize, streamline and increase production capacity with pallet-handling conveyor systems
  • Global supply needs drive increased manufacturing footprint development

Design World Podcasts

June 12, 2022
How to avoid over engineering a part
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings