Current status of clinical engineering, health care engineering and health care technology assessment in Austria

Abstract

Professional organizations and activities covering the fields of clinical engineering, of health care engineering and of health care technology assessment in Austria are addressed. Thus far educational requirements for the hospitalbased biomedical equipment technician have been covered by special courses, workshops etc in a largely non standardized manner. The same applies to training and education in clinical engineering and health care technology assessment. However, medical perfusionists (“Kardiotechniker”) succeeded (already in the early 1990s) to implement an appropriate curriculum with the aim to fulfil requirements as needed with the self dependent execution of extracorporeal circulation and perfusion and related tasks. Recently a bundle of (academic) curricula for biomedical engineering and hospital technology/health care technology were established at various universities for applied sciences (FHs). Similarly a course for formal postgraduate education for the biomedical equipment technician is offered. Several (university) institutes address technology assessment, one focuses on health care technology assessment. Cooperation between representatives of clinical engineering and health technology assessment is still lacking in Austria, which is one reason for the still insignificant initiatives to evaluate medical technology on a critical but sound scientific basis.