Exploring roles and duties of biomedical engineers with insights into gender variations of study and career choices

Biomedical engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and technology that applies engineering principles and design to medicine and biology to improve human health and quality of life. In the past, biomedical engineers have worked in the shadow of better recognised professions; this was in part due to the lack of official dissemination of information about their presence and value worldwide. In recent decades, we have been observing an increasing awareness of their importance within healthcare systems, acknowledging them as valuable human resources for health.  

We have collected data to describe the different tasks and responsibilities of biomedical engineers and expect to retrieve new data from professionals in different branches of biomedical engineering, given the breadth of the roles in this discipline. Beyond the diverse sectors of employment, we all may agree that biomedical engineers deal with the beauty and the complexity of a unique machine, the human body, to save patients’ lives, attain improved levels of care, enjoy a better quality of life, as well as achieving positive economic outcomes.

Defining “Medical device”

Before a deep dive into the roles of the biomedical engineer, it is worthwhile to cite the definition of “medical device” according to Medical Devices Regulation (EU) 2017/745 – MDR:

‘Medical device’ means any instrument, apparatus, appliance, software, implant, reagent, material or other article intended by the manufacturer to be used, alone or in combination, for human beings for one or more of the following specific medical purposes: — diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, prediction, prognosis, treatment or alleviation of disease, — diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, alleviation of, or compensation for, an injury or disability, — investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological or pathological process or state, […]. The following products shall also be deemed to be medical devices: — devices for the control or support of conception; — products specifically intended for the cleaning, disinfection or sterilisation of devices [...].

This definition summarises essential key points of medical technologies and systems, which contribute to setting a high level of quality and safety worldwide for healthcare delivery, to facilitate the development, selection, management and trade of medical devices and to guarantee their appropriate deployment and use.  

Key phases in the medical device lifecycle: from development to utilisation

In today's complex, heterogeneous and dynamic context, biomedical engineers operate at an international level, working on medical devices throughout their entire lifecycle, including provision, acquisition and utilisation.

From a high-level view, for these three macro-phases of the life of medical devices, we can cite the following areas of interest as an example. Provision in the technology development industry includes assessment of customer needs and product roadmap, research and development, industrialisation, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, risk management, strategic and operational marketing and distribution.

When employed in research and development – involving both industry and academia – the role of biomedical engineering professionals brings together the specialist skills of the other engineering disciplines such as mechanics, materials, acoustics, electronics, signal processing and others, integrated with their knowledge of human anatomy and physiology and medical practice, to develop and advance the usage of medical devices and clinical services. The acquisition phase of medical devices deals with assessment (efficacy, effectiveness, appropriateness, implementation), accessibility, availability and selection, procurement and installation. Medical device utilisation concerns training and safe use, maintenance and repair and decommissioning.

Where medicine meets engineering: the role of biomedical engineers

As medicine has become increasingly dependent on more sophisticated technologies and complex equipment, the biomedical engineer has become the bridge between modern medicine and modern engineering, supplemented with cross-disciplinary knowledge and expertise, including in technology, the physical, mathematical and life sciences, economics, human factors, communication and managerial skills.

Biomedical engineers are involved in the development, regulation, management, training and use of medical devices in general, with interdisciplinary collaborations given the use of such devices by many professionals. In addition to healthcare specialists (including physicians and nurses), some professionals manage supply, such as procurement and logistics officers, others evaluate them in their roles as health economists, and others still support design and manufacture, including engineers, industrial designers, chemists and physicists.

The professional figure typically assigned to manage medical devices in healthcare facilities is the biomedical engineer.  Their interdisciplinary knowledge and skills play a crucial role in ensuring the safe and effective integration and interoperability of medical devices in business systems and organisational processes. Health technologies are essential for a fully functioning health system to guarantee a high level of protection of health for patients and users worldwide.

Shaping healthcare through technology, policy, and innovation

In recognising the importance of health technologies, biomedical engineers facilitate trade, prioritise needs and allocation of resources, cover appropriate deployment and use of medical devices, and inform a policy decision-making process by evaluating the social, economic, environmental, organisational and ethical impacts of health intervention and health technology.  Biomedical engineers not only manage day-to-day operations to ensure reliable solutions, but are responsible for long-term activities in their participation in the planning of areas or new units of hospitals and innovations of existing systems based on upgrades and development of transition strategies for replacement technologies.
Biomedical engineering professionals may be also engaged by the government in its work on central or regional level healthcare technology management, or by governmental organisations such as health technology assessment or regulatory agencies for the selection of public procurement, reimbursement schemes or examination and testing of medical devices, to ensure that the devices to be placed on the market are safe and in compliance with international standards and guidelines and regulatory requirements.

Highlighting the gender gap: women in biomedical engineering and STEM fields

In addition to the dissemination of information regarding professional requirements within the broad range of sub-specialisms among biomedical engineers, it is also interesting to provide information about the presence of women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields, with a specific focus on the area of biomedical engineering. The data provided below are insufficiently exhaustive to provide a comprehensive and detailed picture of the gender gap in STEM roles; nevertheless, they are significant and offer substantive evidence that this topic needs to be addressed to raise global proportions of women working in science and technology further, ensuring equality of opportunities, levels of participation, access, rights, remuneration and benefits.

If we focus on European countries, based on Eurostat^[1] statistics and data, in 2022 there were almost 7.3 million female scientists and engineers, accounting for 41% of total employment in science and engineering. Workers in science and technology are not only scientists and engineers but more generally anyone involved in the advancement, dissemination and application of knowledge of technology and science, regardless of educational qualifications. Considering women working as scientists and engineers, more are employed in the services sector (46%), whereas the percentage drops dramatically in the manufacturing sector (22%). Lithuania, the French region of Corsica and Latvia showed the highest percentage of women employed in science and technology, with respect to the total employees in these disciplines in NUTS 1 Regions in 2022: 64.1%, 63.9% and 62.7% respectively. On the other hand, the lowest percentages were recorded in Italy and Malta: 45.3% in northwestern Italy, 46.1% in southern Italy and 45.8% in Malta.

Who is your STEM role model?

For an improved understanding of the professional landscape within STEM scenarios, it is significant to investigate university choices, and how they are influenced in relation to gender. Steamiamoci statistics^[2] show that there is a wide gender gap in the choice of STEM degree programmes. Of the total number of female students, 18% opt for STEM studies, with 37% of women enrolling in STEM degree programmes in total. From the study reported in the 2022 paper by Merayo & Ayuso, society does not encourage women to pursue STEM studies for several reasons; women are under-represented in the STEM field in terms of role models. When secondary school students were asked whether they knew anyone in their immediate environment who worked in STEM sectors, it was observed that most of them were men, as seen in the specific responses: father/mother, uncle/aunt and male/female cousin.

The students were also asked to cite famous STEM role models. Margarita Salas and Marie Curie were frequently mentioned by girls, and Albert Einstein often appeared in boys’ responses. Regarding role models in technology, engineering or mathematics, only Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were referred to; note that no women were identified in these fields.

In addition, there is a belief that to pursue certain types of studies one needs to have special talents and to be a genius, an assumption that turns out to be more entrenched in female students. In their responses to a questionnaire proposed in a study on self-perception, in general women perceive themselves to be less intelligent than their male colleagues. The analysis further revealed that these disciplines are not perceived to be useful in helping others, one of the fundamental reasons that drives female students towards certain choices in both their educational and professional paths.

The role of women in biomedical engineering

Despite the low percentage of female students in STEM fields, high numbers enrol in biomedical engineering: in Italy, 61% of the total students in biomedical engineering are female. As reported in the 2020 study by Denend et al., university-based biomedical engineering programmes have better gender parity than almost any other field of engineering. In this paper, 403 individuals working in health technology were interviewed using a survey. When asked to rate factors that influenced their choice of a career in medical technology, most respondents (79.4%) stated that the desire to help people and improve healthcare was a major motivator. The next most frequently cited motivator was the desire for challenging work (57.3%).

Biomedical engineering is typically perceived as a discipline that has an impact on human health and well-being, integrated with social, economic and environmental outcomes. Due to its multidisciplinary nature, it may contribute to exploiting the creativity and desire to help others that emerged as a driver for the educational and professional choices of the female secondary school students, interviewed in the study conducted by Merayo & Ayuso.

Despite the presence of a majority women in the healthcare industry, the study authored by Denend et al. shows that the top positions are still held by men and that women still experience job discrimination despite their career advancement.

The findings of the studies cited above demonstrate that actions must be taken on several fronts to ensure that gender equality is guaranteed in STEM disciplines. For instance, regarding students, actions need to be taken in schools to break down the prejudices that deter girls from choosing STEM disciplines. In job environments, it is necessary to continue the global promotion of an equal and non-discriminatory culture that provides women with equal opportunities for career and professional growth.

Advancing gender equality in STEM for innovation and economic growth

In an exploration of the biomedical engineer’s role in managing medical devices, a deeper understanding has been gained of their significance in society. As technology continues to reshape our profession, it is clear that much progress is needed to bridge the gender gap and ensure an inclusive future for the field.

Gender equality in STEM is not only for ethical and social integration purposes, but also for technological advancement and profit. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality analysis^[3], gender equality has a major positive impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, which increases over time: it has been calculated that by 2050, improving gender equality would lead to an increase in EU GDP per capita by between 6.1% and 9.6%.

Gender equality is therefore beneficial in every perspective and becomes a shared responsibility for the advancement of technology and the pursuit of innovation, as well as a necessary goal in the context of an equitable and evolved society that views diversity as a source of wealth.