With over 40 different Medical and Surgical Specialties, Cork University Hospital (CUH) is the largest University Teaching Hospital in Ireland and the only Level 1 Trauma Centre in the country serving a population of 1.1 million for its tertiary services.
The Hospital currently employs approximately 5,000 staff of multiple professions and is the primary teaching hospital for the Faculty of Health and Science in University College Cork.
The Biomedical Engineering Department currently has nineteen engineers and one administrative support staff.
Engineers provide technical and clinical support for diverse and complex medical devices throughout clinical areas of the hospital, such as operating theatres, maternity services, intensive care units, dialysis, cardiology, endoscopy and laboratories, to list just some of the specialist areas.
Medical equipment support can be:
provided 'in-house' by engineers sourced via service agreements with medical device suppliers a combination of 'in-house' engineers, supplier engineers, & clinical specialists.
Engineers from the Biomedical Engineering Department frequently participate in multi-disciplinary Product Evaluation Groups (PEG's) as part of public procurement tendering processes.
In these instances, engineering expertise is provided to:
formulate the necessary technical specifications that meet clinical requirements perform product evaluations alongside other members of the PEG oversee the installation, commissioning and recording of medical devices Engineers provide clinical support and consultancy services to:
business managers services managers medical staff health and social care professionals Engineers provide training on specialist devices to clinical colleagues such as:
Anaesthetic Department School of Nursing Intensive Care Engineers based at Cork University Hospital support:
Cork University Maternity Hospital Mallow General Hospital Bantry General Hospital Cork University Hospital As the complexity, interconnectivity and interdependence of medical devices continues to grow, our engineers work closely in partnership with other engineering grades in the health sector such as those supporting and overseeing ICT, Hospital Networks and Estates.
Care is delivered in a variety of settings and new approaches and models of care to follow the care demands of the health service, are being advanced within the context of overall healthcare reform, to include Slaintécare.