Future prospects of engineering combined with health technologies?

[norgos]

Usually when you go into an engineering program, such as EE, you choose between a stream of power engineering, telecommunications or computer. Lately, some universities have been offering a health stream. The university I am attending is offering it within it's Automation program.

I'm curious to know if there is anyone on the board who is an engineering currently working in the health sector? How is the pay and how is it different from other sectors?

[mike24]

I think you are referring to biomedical engineering. If so, then the field is relatively new and focuses more on the research and development of medical therapies, processes and technologies.

I've taken a few biomedical engineering courses during my studies of electrical engineering. The subjects were tailored to graduate students where the focus was placed on laboratories and reviewing research articles. We learned to analyze the cardiovascular and respiratory systems using electrical circuit models.

It's not an easy subject to master due to the complex medical terminology and the lack of experience that undergraduate engineering students have with life sciences. A good portion of my time was spent digging through thick physiology textbooks to learn more about the human body.

You can learn more about the employment opportunities available to biomedical engineers at the US department of labor website:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#outlook

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172031.htm

[steevee]

It is unlikely that Canada will have the opportunities available in the US.