Today, many of the problems confronting health professionals are of extreme interest to engineers because they involve the design and practical application of medical devices and systems — processes that are fundamental to engineering practice. These medically related design problems can range from very complex large-scale constructs, such as the design and implementation of automated clinical laboratories, multiphasic screening facilities (i.e., centers that permit many clinical tests to be conducted), and hospital information systems, to the creation of relatively small and “simple” devices, such as recording electrodes and biosensors, that may be used to monitor the activity of specific physiologic processes in either a research or clinical setting. They encompass the many complexities of remote monitoring and telemetry, including the requirements of emergency vehicles, operating rooms, and intensive care units. The health care system, therefore, encompasses many problems that represent challenges to certain members of the engineering profession called biomedical engineers. The medical instrumentation is a very important topic in the education of these engineers. Therefore, the aim of the group of medical electronics at University of Minho is not only educational purpose but to do research and development in medical instrumentation area. See the video about Biomedical Engineering.

References: The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Second Edition, Editor J. Bronzino, CRC Press.