Focus on: Washington Hospital Center, Biomedical Engineering Department

The Biomedical Engineering Department of the Washington Hospital Center provides clinical engineering services to an urban 907-bed, tertiary care teaching hospital and a variety of associated healthcare facilities. With an annual budget of over $3,000,000, the 24-person department provides cradle-to-grave support for a host of sophisticated medical devices and imaging systems such as lasers, CT scanners, and linear accelerators as well as traditional patient care instrumentation. Hallmarks of the department include its commitment to customer service and patient care, close collaboration with clinicians and quality assurance teams throughout the hospital system, proactive involvement in all phases of the technology management process, and shared leadership in safety standards with the hospital's risk management group. Through this interactive process, the department has assisted the Center not only in the acquisition of 11,000 active devices with a value of more than $64 million, but also in becoming one of the leading providers of high technology healthcare in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.