The Power of the Game for Clinical Engineers

One of my roles as a Clinical Engineer is in the area of Laser Safety and providing technical support to the eye clinic.

When we work in specific technology areas, as Clinical Engineers we are often very involved with instruments that are not perhaps electronic and that do not fit strictly into the realm of clinical engineering. We often find ourselves in discussions with clinicians regarding problem solving for particular tricky procedures. A deeper understanding of the clinical procedures would certainly be of benefit to the professionalism of Clinical Engineers.

In among the endless discussion of the merits of various video games, my 11-year old son described to me how to insert a pacemaker. It was really quite impressive. So I followed up, and I have just removed a cartoon cataract – using instruments I have often discussed but was not fully familiar with their function. My son advises me that I can also do laser surgery.

The game has just invited me to do heart surgery. The games are free, they are simplistic but they offer a very valuable modern tool to Clinical Engineers. I just googled: Eye Surgery Game.

It would be great to build a library of on-line games which can genuinely provide more clinical insights to us as clinical engineers.