Clinical Engineers in Japan and the U.S.: Differences,Similarities, and How They Are Tackling Challenges
Sunday, June 7, 2015 | 10:00 am-11:00 am

YOSHIOKA Jun, MPAS, CCE
Yamagata University Hospital
JACE (Japan Association for Clinical engineers)© 2015 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation www.aami.org

Today’s Topic
Representatives from Japan and the United States will
provide a variety of timely topics, and the similarities
and differences between the clinical engineering
professions in their respective countries.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear how yourcolleagues from these two countries are handling thesame challenges.
Find out what lessons we all can learn from each otherand bring your own experiences to share with yourpeers.

What are“Japanese Clinical Engineers”

Clinical Engineers: Japan
Clinical engineers (CEs)
Established in 1987

Education

University (4 years) or academy (3 years)
Masters (MS) course (2 years)
Doctors (PhD) course (3 years)

National license

Need to pass a national examination

Clinical Engineers (CEs)
The number of CEs

35,000Members of the JACE

15,000Work place
Operating room
Dialysis
Cardiac cath lab
HBO room
ICU, HCU, NICU
Emergency room
General hospital ward

Business operations: Japan CEs
Operating equipment in the clinical environment

50%*Service Delivery Management
Patient Safety
Healthcare Technology Management (HTM)
Education

10%
10%20%10%llllllllll

Respiratory therapy (Mechanical ventilator)
Perfusion (HEART-LUNG machine)
Dialysis (Dialysis equipment)
Operative treatment (Surgical equipment)
Intensive care units
Cardiac catheterization
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Other treatment (defibrillators)
Pacemakers
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (including CRT-D)* Using ACCE 2010 BOK HT Ac4vity Deﬁni4ons

Typical Activities of the JACE
(Japan Association for Clinical engineers)Japan: Certification System
Related to Equipment Operation: Certification enhances the ability ofCEs to engage in more extensive duties and develop specialties, as wellas provide better health care services.

Certification by the Associated Societies; Qualification
Dialysis technology, Extracorporeal circulation technology,
Respiratory therapy, Hyperbaric oxygen therapy,
Clinical medical engineering equipment technologist,and Apheresis treatment.

Certifications by the JACE (Founded 2010); Specialization
Blood purification CE specialtyArrhythmia treatment CE specialty
Respiratory treatment CE specialty
and Hyperbaric oxygen therapy CE specialty※ The JACE are also in the middle of investigating those other Certifications.

The 25th Congress of Japan Association
for Clinical Engineers
Congress of JACE, in 2015
May 23-24, Fukuoka

Participant: 5,000
Facility: 2 (Hotel and International
Conference Center)
Room: 18
Presentation
Oral: 500
Poster: 120
Lecture: 5
Public lecture: 2Symposium: 4Workshop: 17
Exhibition: 40
Luncheon seminar: 18
The 23rd, YAMAGATA

JACE Kids Seminar
The JACE wants kids to become a clinical engineer, if kids likes.
So the JACE is hosting awareness building activities for kids.

The 23rd Congress of Japan Association for Clinical Engineers, YAMAGATAThis public relations campaign in promoting the kids seminarhelped to gain publicity for the CE.

Case Study on the Differences
between Japanese & American CEs:
2014 Visit to US Hospital※ American CE teams includes BMETs

Westchester

ーMEDICAL CENTERー

Sr. Biomedical Engineer

Tamotsu Tsunekage

Managing medical devices by CEs
JapanUS

Syringe pump, Infusion pump

Syringe pump, Infusion pump

Mechanical ventilator

Mechanical ventilator

Patient monitor

Patient monitor

IABP, PCPS

IABP, PCPS

Dialysis equipment

Dialysis equipment

Incubator

Incubatorand other equipment…
American CE teams are able tomanage imaging equipment!!

and other equipment…

Plus

X-ray
MRI

※ US CEs have the wider sphere of activity regarding
the HTM of medical equipment than Japanese CEs

Case Study CE Differences
JapanUS

1. HTM of medical equipment

1. HTM of medical equipment

2. CEs primarily conduct life cycle
management activities.

2. C E s p r i m a r i l y c o n d u c t l i f e c y c l emanagement activities.

3. Oversee technicians who
maintain equipment

3. O v e r s e e t e c h n i c i a n s w h o m a i n t a i nequipment.

4. Not yet

4. Conduct CE-IT, device integration withelectronic medical records.

5. Not yet

5. Conduct medical device alarm safety inhospitals.

• Especially, the alarm notification system is important to reduce
alarm fatigue and prevent or detect adverse events.
• Japanese CEs should also actively manage the alarm notification
system.
• To achieve this goal, we must learn latest the alarm notification
system from the ACCE.

SalaryJapanUSClinical Engineer（CE）$ 30,000〜65,000$ 80,000〜120,000

BiomedicalEngineer（BME）---$ 54,000〜98,000

Biomedical Equipment
Technician（BMET）---$ 45,000〜58,000

The salary of a Japanese CE is lower than that of an American CE.
(All medical professionals are paid very high salaries in the US. )Especially in the United States, profession as clinical engineers are quite
popular and are highly evaluated.

The biggest difference between Japanese & American CEs

Generalist or Specialist
US CEs, BME(T)Japanese CEs
Respiratory therapy
HEART-LUNG machine
Dialysis equipment
JapaneseCEs havea wide but light
Operativetreatment
knowledge
aboutcareclinicalengineering.
Intensiveunits
Generalist
Cardiac≒catheterization
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
HTM of medical device

It's important to be able to handle
everything, but it's important to havesome kind of specialized knowledge.
→ Which is the better of the two?

Life cycle management
HTM of medical device
Operative treatment
IT (Medical information)

RT
Respiratory
therapy

Diaylsistechnician
Cardiac
Dialysiscatheterizationequipment
US CEs and other medicalstaffs
have specialized knowledge andPerfusionist
skill
in a given specialized field.
Hyperbaric Technologist
HEART-LUNG≒ Specialist
HyperbaricmachineoxygenMonitoring
therapytechnician

Cardiac Cath-Lab tech

Alarm notification
system& Expo
AAMI2015 Conference
June 5-8, Denver, COProspects for the future(HTM)
A clinical engineer is an essential profession for the safe operationof medical equipment.
Clinical engineering has decreased medical equipment failure
which exposes patients to potentially harmful risks.

In addition to HTM,

・The JACE must learn latest managerial skills
for medical equipment like American CEs.
・It is important to introduce an ACCE's
advanced CE education system in Japan.

Safety management; HTM• Earlier
The equipment was simple and rugged,so did not break down easily.
• Present day
Modern critical care medical equipment
has numerous CPU boards and sensors,and more failure points.
• Key CE services
Increased special HTM by CE is necessary.
KYOTO, Japan

Conclusion
Japanese CEs operate and maintain high technology
medical devices such as a life support system in Japan.
US CEs primarily conduct life cycle management activities
and oversee clinical technicians who maintain equipment.
Both professions are very important in HTM in the world.

Acknowledgements
We recognize members at the American College ofClinical Engineering (ACCE), USA for their helpful andconstructive comments on this session.
The Japan Association for Clinical Engineers also
appreciates the ACCE for their faithful service to theircountry during the tragic 2011 Tsunami.

END
Thank you all for listening
Questions?

SHEEP-RIN: JACE’s mascot character

SHEEP-RIN
The basics of this character issheep (animal).
The sheep has the motif such as
Humanity and Clemency.
The heart expresses “Clinical".
Ears expresses bolts.
There is a gear in heart.
Bolts and the gear expresses“Engineering".
In addition, the tail becomes ACcord.