Spotlight on one biomedical engineer for physiotherapy devices
What is it like to install physiotherapy and rehabilitation devices and train physiotherapists? Azin Ghafoori is a Biomedical Engineer, and this article focuses on her work and her career.
Life as a biomedical engineer with physiotherapy devices focus
Background and path to engineering
Have you always liked knowing how things work? Any examples from when you were young?
Yes, I vividly remember when I was a child, I always wanted to know about new things specifically when there was a problem with them. I remember, my mother always called me for restoring the TV channels when I was about eight years old. I was the only member of family who could manage it.
Have you always liked fixing things? Any examples?
Yes, and I have several examples.
My niece’s electrical toothbrush would not turn on, and I simply changed the on/off button.
My sister’s mixer did not work, and I so I opened it and cleaned the inside. After that it was fixed and worked again.
Were there any childhood interests which were a factor in deciding to become an engineer?
Yes, I was very curious about electrical devices, software and hardware.
Biomedical Engineering working on physiotherapy devices
Why did you decide to become a biomedical engineer rather than a different type of engineer?
Because I love medicine, and so I wanted to become a biomedical engineer.
What are the three reasons you would use to recommend to someone to become a biomedical engineer?
Firstly, it is very interesting because it is a combination of medicine and engineering.
Secondly, you can be a part of treating patients by repairing the essential devices.
Thirdly, you will communicate with interesting people such as physicians.
Equipment – physiotherapy and rehabilitation devices
What are the types of equipment you work on?
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation devices.
What is the best piece of equipment you have ever worked on?
Biofeedback therapy is the best piece of equipment. This is because with this device, a physiotherapist can treat faecal (fecal) and urinary incontinency which then has a direct effect on people’s quality of life.
Furthermore, it is more related to engineering as it has EMG (Electromyography) signals. So, it is interesting for me to maintain.
What has been the most difficult piece of equipment you have ever worked on?
Shortwave therapy or SWD (Shortwave Diathermy) is a kind of device in physiotherapy which uses deep heat for treating the patient.
Is there a piece of equipment/instrument you would you like to work on in future?
I love imaging and anything associated with that.
Typical week as a Biomedical Engineer for physiotherapy devices
What’s your typical week like?
I work from nine to five from Saturday to Wednesday. Then I am free to enjoy my leisure time on Thursday and Friday. My work varies each day and each week but includes:
Issuing proforma invoices.
Answering my customer calls.
Reading service manuals.
Reading new articles about physiotherapy and treatments.
Providing support for operating devices over the phone.
Explaining products for customers who are interested in our company.
How much of your time is spent ‘hands on’ and how much doing other things?
My time is divided fifty- fifty.
What are your tips for the best ways to share knowledge and experience with other engineers?
Creating groups and forums in social media.
Building relationships with customers
How do you develop the relationship so that it becomes more than just ‘supplier’ and ‘customer’?
I do this by building a strong relationship with them. I achieve this by using the following.
Calling them but also visiting them where they work.
Consulting them about buying equipment.
Saying congratulations on their birthday and other special days.
Maintaining constant and open communication.
Giving some free services to them such as solving their operating problems over the phone.
Most challenging part of the job working on physiotherapy devices
What do you find most challenging when you are working – technical side or people/customers?
Technical issues are challenging. For example, supplying spare parts and devices at the estimated time we told the customers.
Also, sometimes there are random errors while we are servicing the device.
Have you ever arrived on site and found that it’s been much easier than you expected? For example, have you just needed to switch on a machine.
No, because as a professional engineer, you should check basic things over the phone first. If you are sure that it is a serious thing and cannot be solved over the phone, you can then arrange an appointment.
How do you keep everything calm when a job is very urgent?
I do this by prioritising, working on parallel projects, and by
optimising my time.
Women in engineering
How do you think more women can be encouraged to work as medical/biomedical engineers?
Women can be more detail oriented and pay more attention at work. So, if they are well-trained, they have the potential to be very successful in biomedical engineering.
About Azin Ghafoori, Biomedical Engineer for physiotherapy devices
Azin Ghafoori is a Biomedical Engineer who has specialised in physiotherapy and rehabilitation products. She has an MSc in biomedical engineering and has continued to study and complete training whilst working. Azin has over eight years of experience and has installed more than 300 physiotherapy devices and has trained more than 500 physiotherapists.
Azin has passed the academic IELTS with an overall 7 skill level. She speaks English and Farsi and is expert with Microsoft office. She feels that she is a fast learner and has excellent interpersonal skills.
Further reading
Spotlight on life of a Biomedical Engineer in the UK
Successful apprenticeship to life in global medical hardware installations
Who repairs and services the medical equipment in a hospital
I first learned about Ms. Azin Ghafoori about a month ago, and I am enjoying learning her story and communicating with her. Thank you for giving her greater exposure and reaching others. Thank you Azin for the work you do for your patients’ safety.
Thank you Paul 🙏
Morning,
Great article, I only have one thing to ask. Can you please distinguish between a person being a Biomedical Engineer and working as a Biomedical Engineering Technician. There is a clear and distinct difference between the two of these. At least in the United States Biomedical Engineering degrees tend to specialize in Medical Equipment development, prosthesis development, or genetics research. Biomed Technicians are people that work on, maintain, install, and educate users about medical equipment use, amongst other things. Generally, a Biomedical Technician has a 2-year degree background whereas a Biomedical Engineer has a 4-year degree or more. The important of distinguishing between these 2 worldwide is to eliminate the confusion for prospective students going into the fields. I have spoken with many young students that want to work on equipment and repair things and going into Biomedical Engineering thinking this is what they are going to do when in reality it is not. And I would say vice versa. As of late our management has been getting many applications from Biomedical Engineers and when they speak with the candidate, they are looking for a research and development job not a job of a technician. This is why AAMI, in the USA is working hard to get our title changed to HTM (Healthcare Technology Management) to make a better distinction between a Biomed Eng and a Biomed Technician.
Hi Joe, thanks for your detailed reply, which warrants a detailed response. We certainly used HTM as a label when we ran our HTM Week blogs featuring 51 engineers working in Biomedical Engineering. The topic of giving things, people, and jobs labels is complex. I just ran a quick search on my LinkedIn network and typing in Biomedical Engineer I get 1600 connections, HTM gets 93 connections, Biomedical Service Engineer gets 2000 connections, and Biomedical Engineering Technician gets 1300 connections. My understanding is that HTM (Healthcare Technology Management) in itself covers a range of job roles and skill sets. AAMI defines HTM, “As a healthcare technology management (HTM) professional, you are a key member of the healthcare delivery care team by managing, repairing, and utilizing health technology”. So using the term HTM does not really bring more precision in terms of the work a HTM professional might do. Going back to today’s blog featuring Azin Ghafoori, Azin holds a MSc in Biomedical Engineering, so she is indeed a Biomedical Engineer.
Joe, great points. And I think this bears some distinction globally, as even here u the US, we don’t agree on terminology. I think your use of Engineer vs. Technician is very apt. But the HTM moniker fromAAMI isn’t even consistent within their own labeling. HTM, in my opinion, is the umberella with Biomedical Engineering Technician, Laboratory Equipment Tecnician, Radiology Equipment Tecnician, Healthcare Technology Management, and Clinical Engineer as subsets underneath it.
To your point, it IS confusing when we talk globally, and even witihn our own field here in the States. This confounds communication, and more critically, hiring and job descriptions. This all sounds like an article doesn’t it? and even the topic of many panel discussions in the past.
Hi Joe.
In Iran, we don’t have Meng ( Master of Engineering) program which is about two years.
We only have bachelor and Msc.
Bachelor takes 4 years long and Msc
Is 2 years. So when I have studied Msc, it means I have studied 6 years in university.
Biomedical engineer field, has three different category in Iran
Biomaterial
Bioelectric
And clinical.
My bachelor is clinical and my Msc is Bioelectric.
When you have graduated
With bachelor or Msc degree you can work as a sales engineer or technical engineer or combination of both.
I am working in sales and after sales services departments simultaneously.
If you choose technical engineer, the training course which is related the devices is held by company that you are work for.
To sum up, in Iran the degree needed for sales or technical jobs is the same.
It is up to you to choose which one for your career path.
The key point is that If your field is bioelectric, there is more chance to get in to technical section such as installing and repairing medical devices.
Hello Azin,
Thank you for the response. The amount of schooling you are required is crazy, to be a Biomed. Thank you for what you are doing. The Biomed Tech job is an important job any place a person is in the world regardless of what we are called. This conversation is very important though to shine an even brighter light on what name we go by. There needs to be a worldwide agreement on a name so when anyone talks about being a biomed tech, we all know, and future prospects know what we do. Keep up the great job you do and work to bring more people into the great job of Biomedical Eng Tech.
Thank you🙏
Morning Tim,
I 100% agree with your comment especially the fact that Azin has a Masters in Biomedical Engineering. She truly is the Biomedical Engineer. My response though was the fact that the job she is doing is the job as a Biomedical Engineering Technician which great we need more like her. AAMI’s desire to change the title to HTM is with the understanding it is difficult to have an all-encompassing name for what we do as Biomedical Engineering Technicians. The point was made with your statement that a brief search for jobs comes up with thousands under multiple names. It’s no wonder up and coming new students don’t know who we are and what we do. They can’t even do a simple job search and find one answer!
Having spent many years working with engineers across many industries the question of what is an engineer has often come up.
In my experience there are people who have a degree in engineering who don’t like seeing people who don’t hold a degree in engineering being called Engineer.
I think this comes from their belief that when you do an engineering degree you should learn the fundamentals on which tools and equipment are built.
For example a Field Service Engineer who understands how Mixed-Signal ICs work will know that the sensor frontend pulls in raw data, but the output is only as good as the model of reality that is interpreting that analogue data. The Field Service Engineer who understands how DSP algorithms are used to interpret the data can use that knowledge to interpret results with more insight than someone who hasn’t even thought about how medical devices use sensors, that use models of reality, and not reality itself; and just maybe the sensor’s model is wrong in this specific case, which led to this error. (A technician might know this, and it will also depend on the training the employer offers).
Whether Biomedical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Field Service Engineer, Field Sales Engineer Field x Engineer, some Engineers argue that having no degree means you are a Technician, and should be called such.
A further problem is, if you look at lots of jobs these days the job didn’t exist when the person got their degree, and many “engineers” these days are self-taught, or have come up via learning on the job.
Many of the greatest “engineers” never went to university or didn’t study engineering at university.
One final problem on this topic is that the Job Title can come down to what the HR Department choose to call a job. If they give a vacancy the title Biomedical Engineer and that job profile does not require an engineering degree the person being hires is still being hired as an Engineer.
Exactly Tim,
I believe you Tim and I all agree on this. As a person holding an Associates of Biomedical Engineering TECHNOLOGIES I do not feel right calling myself an Engineer like my friend does that has and earned a Mechanical Engineering degree. Does longevity and experience bring with it knowledge as you have demonstrated in your statements. Of course! Comparing a Biomedical Engineer and a Biomed Eng Tech right out of college, the knowledge is going to be different. Your point about the HR listing of the job title is spot on. Infact HR doesn’t even know what we do in most cases. Even if you sit down and explain what we do they still probably won’t fully grasp who the candidate that we are looking for is. Heck in the US the department of labor doesn’t even get it right. We are called Medical Equipment Repairers. Find that one on a job search!
Nice shirt, with the trees, Mrs. Ghafoori!
You surely do a satisfying job repairing these important and helpful devices.