Developing Interprofessional Skills in a Clinical Engineering Program

Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Technology academic programs should follow the current demands of their industry to become updated and competitive in order to train highly qualified professionals. Today, the role of clinical engineers is shifting from merely repairing and maintaining medical equipment to becoming the managers of the instrumental resources in their healthcare institution. This new approach to Clinical Engineering creates the need for technicians to possess a wide range of interprofessional skills. The Wilkes-Barre Campus of the Penn State University has been training Biomedical Engineering Technology professionals since 1967, constantly updating its program to ensure the quality of the graduates. This paper describes the different academic activities and approaches developed by the author since his incorporation into the program in 1996.