What does a medical engineer do?
Medical engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real medical engineer resumes:
- Accomplish QA of inspector worksheets during shipboard inspection, and generate certification report for government approval.
- Propose and implement an architecture with significantly improve availability characteristics.
- Propose and implement an architecture with significantly improve availability characteristics.
Medical engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Medical Engineers are proficient in R, Hospital Equipment, and Design Verification. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Medical Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- R, 16%
Employed MCMC expertise to uncover problems within the C# code and issues in the original R code.
- Hospital Equipment, 14%
Key activities involved evaluating existing hospital equipment to determine repair or replacement status.
- Design Verification, 10%
Create, develop and directs design verification test scripts/protocols for execution.
- MRI, 7%
Have provided MRI and CT image segmentations, pre-surgery plannings using specific software, modeling of 3D patient anatomical model guides.
- Medical Devices, 6%
Managed close control of sterilization dealing with medical devices.
- ECG, 6%
Fabricated successful prototype made of aluminum can and a plastic cap that performed comparably to standard ECG pads.
Common skills that a medical engineer uses to do their job include "r," "hospital equipment," and "design verification." You can find details on the most important medical engineer responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a medical engineer to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "bioengineers and biomedical engineers must assess the needs of patients and customers prior to designing products." Additionally, a medical engineer resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "work on component level boards using oscilloscope frequency counter, various analyzers and test equipment. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling medical engineer duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "because bioengineers and biomedical engineers sometimes work with patients and customers and frequently work on teams, they must be able to express themselves clearly in discussions." According to a medical engineer resume, here's how medical engineers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "hone communication, project management skills, and documentation of the design process. "
Creativity. medical engineers are also known for creativity, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to medical engineer responsibilities, because "bioengineers and biomedical engineers must be creative to come up with innovations in healthcare equipment and devices." A medical engineer resume example shows how creativity is used in the workplace: "inventory and data base entry (tms) online data base repair and perform preventive maintenance medical devices at roswell park. "
Math skills. A big part of what medical engineers do relies on "math skills." You can see how essential it is to medical engineer responsibilities because "bioengineers and biomedical engineers use calculus and other advanced math and statistics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting in their work." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical medical engineer tasks: "developed a visual c++ (mfc) based application to calculate real time statistics for gps sessions. "
Problem-solving skills. A commonly-found skill in medical engineer job descriptions, "problem-solving skills" is essential to what medical engineers do. Medical engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "bioengineers and biomedical engineers typically deal with intricate biological systems." You can also see how medical engineer duties rely on problem-solving skills in this resume example: "resolved breakdowns occurred in critical care and intensive critical care unit effectively and in timely manner. "
The three companies that hire the most medical engineers are:
- Motion Recruitment5 medical engineers jobs
- Tenet Healthcare2 medical engineers jobs
- AHMC Healthcare2 medical engineers jobs
Compare different medical engineers
Medical engineer vs. Senior biomedical technician
Bioprocess Engineers are responsible for developing and improving engineering systems and processes for use in biopharmaceutical and biotechnology. They create process documents, manage inventory levels, and ensure work operations adhere to good manufacturing practices. Additionally, they must oversee the inner workings of downstream, data, and upstream processing.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, medical engineer responsibilities require skills like "ultrasound equipment," "r," "design verification," and "mri." Meanwhile a typical senior biomedical technician has skills in areas such as "medical equipment," "biomedical equipment," "health system," and "electrical safety." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, senior biomedical technicians reach lower levels of education than medical engineers. Senior biomedical technicians are 11.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Medical engineer vs. Biomedical imaging center director
In a biomedical engineering internship, an intern's duties usually depend on the directives of a supervising staff or manager. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around gathering industry and workplace insights while performing support tasks such as preparing and processing documents, answering calls and correspondence, organizing files, maintaining databases, running errands, and assisting staff in various preparations and procedures. They may also conduct research, study different subjects, and gather samples for laboratory procedures. Furthermore, as an intern, it is essential to familiarize and abide by the organization's policies and regulations, reporting to the managers should there be any problems.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, medical engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "ultrasound equipment," "r," "hospital equipment," and "design verification." Meanwhile, a biomedical imaging center director has duties that require skills in areas such as "biomedical," "financial data," "pet," and "clinical laboratory." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Biomedical imaging center directors earn higher levels of education than medical engineers in general. They're 27.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Medical engineer vs. Bioprocess engineer
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a medical engineer is likely to be skilled in "ultrasound equipment," "hospital equipment," "design verification," and "mri," while a typical bioprocess engineer is skilled in "gmp," "process flow," "cip," and "pilot plant."
Bioprocess engineers typically earn higher educational levels compared to medical engineers. Specifically, they're 6.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 3.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Medical engineer vs. Biomedical engineering internship
Types of medical engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
