The latest study day in Lodon featured Medical Ultrasound, training on discipline and equipment familiiarisation was conducted on three impressive Siemens Adara Units.

This equipment was certainly friendly in demonstrating theory, technique and practice in the technical and functional aspects of ultrasound, attendees enjoyed the get together and benefited from open discussion. The hands on approach to education delivery was most appreciated

Often regarded as the unsung hero's of the NHS, Prosthetists and orthotists make artificial limbs, braces and splints, enabling people to live life to the fullest. Presently and in the past robotic prosthetics have been contolled by various input mechanisms, we have stood on the verge of these devices being controlled by our brains for some time now, how far have we come ?

CEN members previously have been involved in mechanical patient interfacing with electronic equipment such as computers gaming machines, very challenging, interesting and rewarding, we know we can now process EEG signals to create useable inputs to devices, limbs and Playstations !

Here are some details following this event in Chesterfield.

X Ray production

Below are some images instructors used to demonstrate the theory and production of X Rays and the design features incorporated into X Ray Tubes, both stationary and rotating anode tubes were discussed and shown. In conclusion, apart from cooling mechanisms, the basic design of tubes has changed little since invention.

The Tube

The setting factors (X Ray Control) of a typical Medical X Ray, anatomical programming features of modern X Ray unts were discussed with students

KVP - Kilo Volts Peak - The Voltage applied accross the tube to accellerate the Electron Beam, here 100KVP

mA - The electron beam current - proportional to the voltage applied to and current flowing in the cathode (-ve) filament.

Time - Seconds, fractions of (mS) - the length of time the electron beam strikes the Anode (+ve) target

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead, or why not bring out your IEC body models, scopes and Enraf Nonius therapy protocols instead and find out how we turned the monsters in the cornrer into regular tools of the trade for a group of Physiotherapists recently in Chesterfield

We are thrilled that because of the encouragement and support of CEN and through networking at study days etc, members will  be involved in the transfer of technology from one industry to another, in this case medicine of course to others, Some of our members have been involved in this field previously and with the help of government development agencies, impressive and marked success has been realised from initial ideas and potential through to feasibility study and final product strategy

You might find this interesting if you are interested in anaesthesia delivery and ventillation products especially, www.historyofmie.co.uk it is still under construction but the first pages are set up and on line

This site will be expanding over the coming months as Bill Qick chronicles the history of one of the finest British medical equipment manufacturers of our times

Well, thats the front page forum gone, for now at least, we have turned it off, It has proved a nighmare to police and moderate it properly. Too many security issues as well, seemed to be the point of entry for those wishing to hack the site. We have had to rebuild the site 4 times now, enough to make you pull your hair out, if you dont believe me, look at our last editor ! Poor girl, we had to let her go in the end.

We were sick of the mess on the CEN office floor!

Still, it was a lot fun at times and we will find a way for the more popular elements to be incorporated within CEN as we grow in a different direction, it is after all more about clinical engineeing and networking than a soapbox or commentary.

I will miss the forum but not the issues it brought at times, mending the thing was a constant and time consuming admin task, and the threat of being sued by upset folk was getting tiresome if not extremely funny on more than one occasion, you just cant stop people speaking thier minds and if A upsets B, theres often nothing you can do about it.

If we have more resources, we can bring it back

Darren

Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest and indeed busiest children's hospitals in Europe. The Hospital itself has a world class reputation for saving the lives of sick children

It is internationally acclaimed as a centre of clinical excellence, treating more than 200,000 children a year.

At Alder Hay during the national respiratory study day Key Health Solutions demomstrated the AnaConDa, those who were unable to meet Darren Magee or Bill Quick at the event can see the video of this revolutionary ICU sedation device on a video on the Key Health Website at www.keyhealthsolutions.co.uk

Look out for this added dimension coming soon to CEN, our site has come to the attention of one of the largest suppliers of imaging equipment throughout the USA and Europe, discussions earlier laid the foundations for our networks to develop together.

Tubes   MRI coils  Probes

Equipment educational and training information regarding diagnostic imaging equipment is sometimes hard to come by, information on the best places to get HT cables, tubes and intensifiers is sometimes needed, parts for everything X Ray Tube inserts, from mammography compression plates to Ultrasound transducers to MRI coils, all exciting stuff and you can get information, here on CEN soon

Following the CEN academy study days in December featuring Critical Care Ventilation (Thank you Cardinal Health for your Support).

    Many thanks to Cardinal Healthcare,  they have provided a Vela shown here for study day events in respitory care and critical care ventilation, this powerful and very intuitive platform allows us to demonstrate to engineers and students the basics and very quickly, the layout and simplicity of control in every mode of patient support and the higher end functions and needs of clinicians.

The next events are planned to start early in the New Year, again Critical Care Ventilation is likely to feature and Anaesthesia Delivery and Ventilation with Diagnostic Imaging especially X Ray, also included will be Medical Eqipment Management with a good look at some cutting edge technical support and client focused software packages.

At CEN school presentations the response by teachers has been remarkable, most state quite passionately that Clinical Engineering encapsulates perfectly the relationship between science and engineering, the need to communicate and calculate (maths and english boys and girls) with so many examples. The fact that we may have inspired a student or helped a teacher gives us a real buzz, long may it continue, thanks to all involved.

The Clinical Engineering Network is open to all but especially aimed at those involved with or share an interest in Healthcare Engineering, Medicine and Science.Our aim is to remain educationally focused and to this end, many of our members contribute significantly to our community and the community at large through technical innovations and training initiatives

This site therefore is not limited to the expert or novice, the student or academic, it is for everybody, we aim simply to enhance our activity and understanding through the development of partnership and sharing our resources, abilities and talent.

Whoever you are,whatever your differences, we will treat you with dignity and respect, all we ask is that you treat each other and us the same, you are all welcome to particiipate in this websites development and contribute to what we hope will become a significant resource.

We aim to deliver with the help of supporters more of the following:-

Wider community based services - (school and colleges, young engineers groups and projects etc)
Education/Training based services - (Our study days and the launch of our Studend/Mentor Network)
Government and Business Initiatives - (Working with groups on technology transfer initiatives etc)

We have set ourselves some blue sky targets this year, we aim this to deliver much more this year if we can. With your help and that of our site supporters, there are no limits............

Clinical Engineering and Medical Physics are quite inter related disciplines

Medical , Particle and Cosmology Physics, all the same really just different sized and located bodies

  Saturn   X Ray Photon   Tomotherapy Machine

Heres a few Links, enjoy:-

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/kenny/papers/cosmo.html

http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3834632996973653146

http://butler.cc.tut.fi/~malmivuo/bem/bembook/