Classic PAMIA Brochure
Circa 1980
(Author unknown)
PHILADELPHIA
AREA
MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION ASSOCIATION
What Is Clinical Engineering?
Clinical Engineering is the effective application of technology and engineering principles to the solution of clinical problems. In order to satisfy the Standard on Safety and Sanitation of the Joint Commission On Accreditation of Hospitals, you have (perhaps without realizing it) availed yourself of the services provided by a clinical engineering program.
The explosive impact of technology upon the health care community has generated problems such as the assessment of technological and cost effectiveness, device applications and the risks associated with the use of a wide range of electrical and mechanical devices. These problems have identified the need for a distinct group of engineers and technicians who bring to medicine those engineering skills which have been in long-term practice in the medical device industry.
Clinical engineering programs may include the following functions:
Clinical Engineering programs are a vital component of the hospital's responsibility for providing efficacious, safe and cost effective health care.
How Do The Clinical
Engineering Programs
In The Philadelphia Area Keep Pace With Technology?
In 1976, the Philadelphia Area Medical Instrumentation Association (PAMIA) was organized in order "...to provide a forum for professionals involved in the field of medical instrumentation technology; to exchange ideas and technical information; to further provide a means of communication regarding new instrumentation, techniques, standards, government regulations and other areas of mutual concern; to support and encourage continuing education; to promote and sponsor service training at a local level; and to encourage others to enter the field of biomedical technology.''
At each monthly meeting standing committee reports are reviewed and a technical session relating current technology to health care is presented by either guest speakers or PAMIA members. Examples of recent sessions include: "Intrapartum Fetal Monitoring - Is It Worth It?", "Diagnostic Ultrasound - Theory and Clinical Applications" and "Indirect Blood Pressure Monitoring Techniques.''
PAMIA has also sponsored one and two day seminars on Ventilators and ECG Electrode Theory and Design.
A technical library which cross references service manuals and inspection protocols held by member clinical engineering departments is one service provided by PAMIA which is accessable 24 hours per day.
PAMIA invites you, as a hospital administrator or clinician, to call upon its officers and the biomedical/clinicalengineering departments of its member institutions to assist in the evaluation of your clinical engineering requirements. We would welcome the membership and participation of your institution whether or not you presently have an in-houseclinical engineering program, subscribe to available shared service programs or rely upon manufacturers and theirrepresentatives for clinical instrument support.
OFFICERS
President: Philip Katz, Ph.D., Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 215-928-8647
Vice-President: Dave Bell, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 215-596-9539
Secretary: Tom Kiernan, Holy Redeemer Hospital, 215-947-3000
Treasurer: Ira Tackel, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 215-662-2330
At Large: Ralph Edelson, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Joe Lewandowski, Allentown Sacred Heart Hospital, 215-821-2037
MEMBER INSTITUTIONS
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This page was modified
on May 10, 1997
Contents ©2001 Philadelphia Area Medical Instrumentation Association
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