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New Normal and Year Reflections 

As I sat to write this column during the 2022 holi-
day season between Xmas, Hanukah, and the new year 
celebrations, one cannot ignore the changing behavior 
of humanoids as the year came to a close. The elevated 
feeling from experiencing ubiquitous kindness shared 
by and among people, that of caring for one another, of 
conveying the season’s joy to others around us near and 
far, and the realization that we all share this planet. This 
was magnified, and subconsciously visibly appeared, 
during our serious conversations as well as within the 
small talks we carried. You could hear it, smell it, see it, 
and above all you could feel it. It seemed like everyone 
partakes in forwarding good wishes, joining in the sharing 

of fellowship, and gift exchange while getting prepared 
next to engage in making new year’s resolutions. As the 
world population has surpassed at the end of the year 
8 billion persons mark consequently to ongoing inno-
vation, access to energy, food, water, and medical care 
becoming more reliable and available. Yet, the projected 
expectations for the more rapid growth1 of the human 
population will contribute to the higher challenges we 
face together in order to meet our combined future needs 
as shown in figure 1 below. 

Adopted from  https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/
Probabilistic/POP/TOT/900. 

Engineering Report
By Yadin David
Biomedical Engineering Consultants, LLC, Houston, TX

FIGURE 1. World Population surpassed 8 billion persons in 2022.

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org
https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/POP/TOT/900
https://population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/POP/TOT/900


J Global Clinical Engineering Vol.5 Issue 3, 2023  6

You could easily be confused that this beautiful seasonal 
period, as short as it may be, is normal compared with 
years past but in essence, this has been just a masking of 
the fear of the unknown - of uncertainty. Following three 
years of human suffering caused by the most devastating 
plague in the past 100 years that completely engulfed 
our globe and turned every normalcy on its head, the 
normalcy that until then we began to take for granted. 
Today, there are still regions where this disease is not 
contained.  

Normalcy during this dreadful three-year period 
was only becoming a dream or a faint memory, with our 
aspiration not to forget the way we were. The normal 
world seems no more. Families lost loved ones, national 
economies were forced to shut down, schools were empty 
of students, social gatherings were curtailed, and travel 
was not an option. Grandparents could not hug their 
grandkids, and the only entertainment left to enjoy was 
from balconies or on the electronic display screens we 
kept becoming glued to at home. Science became some-
what of a political pawn, factories were closed, and the 
supply chain could not stand up to its gigantic challenge 
(we still are faced in some regions with the infant formula 
supply crisis) bringing the world to almost a standstill. 
Unfortunately, many difficult and sad lessons are still 
being debated and shared with the hope of never being 
faced with isolation and helplessness again.   

Among the industries having a central role and perhaps 
the biggest impact on our lives is the healthcare delivery 
system. The system found itself in the middle of distress 
trying to meet the sudden rise in demand for its services 
and suffering from being unprepared, understaffed, and 
uncoordinated regarding its life-critical assets such 
as space, skilled personnel, drugs & vaccines, medical 
devices, and medical gases. That compelled healthcare 
systems to search for alternatives, workarounds, and 
innovative solutions to quickly produce the needed 
isolated patient care spaces, and obtain sufficient 
quality of personal protection equipment for their staff 
and patients, as well as mechanical ventilators, oxygen 

concentrators, and oxygen supply. Healthcare providers 
and their support teams became exhausted, and fatigued 
but could not, for several reasons, be easily replaced by 
others. As history and global markets showed us, we are 
not good at predicting our future. We generally look for 
a brighter future, one that would not teach words like 
“new variant” or “subvariant”. What was normal before 
is no more, and in the vacuum, the new normal started 
to be created and has already begun to spread its roots. 

As reported by KXAN2 and the JAMA-Network Open 
publication “Prevalence of and Factors Associated with 
Nurse Burnout in the US”, almost 3% of practicing nurses, 
in the US, ages 49 and younger left their practice during 
the 2021 pandemic year. The figure below shows that 
in a short period between 2020 and 2021 over 100,000 
caregivers (about 3%) left the workforce. However, 
their jobs had to be covered by other staff especially 
as patient volume has increased due to the pandemic. 
This condition, as difficult as can be imagined, gave rise 
to the new normal where potential partial relief can be 
derived from a new closer training between members 
of the healthcare team such as nurses and clinical engi-
neering professionals.

FIGURE 2. Over 100k nurses in the US left their job.

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org


7 J Global Clinical Engineering Vol.5 Issue 3, 2023

Clinical engineering professionals (engineers, tech-
nologists, and technicians) are team members of this 
stressed industry and are deserved to be counted within 
the silent hero’s community that kept the healthcare 
delivery systems innovative, functioning, and safe under 
the extreme once-in-century challenge, brought about 
by the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus sustain the system 
of patient-ready and operationally safe technologies 
around the world.

The reality of the new normal was one of the reasons 
that in May 2022, T. Judd and I published in the National 
Academy of Engineering Perspectives an article discussing 
the Growing Role of Clinical Engineering professionals in 
Merging Technology at the Point of Care 3 sharing with 
nursing staff new responsibilities. 

To meet the needs of the new normal we included 
in this article a Call for Action for clinical engineering 
practitioners to transition from focusing on strategies 
addressing the localized point of care to those that meet 
larger population health needs, taking a bigger role in 
the healthcare delivery team, achieve certain systems 
competencies, and have a stronger contribution to na-
tional health technology policies. Such as:

1. Education of the workforce to create greater collab-
oration and resiliency within and between health team 
members. Collaborative interdisciplinary educational 
training4 will ensure the availability of systems skills 
needed to maximize the benefits of health technologies. 
With demonstrated competencies and internationally 
coordinated professional credentialing, CEs will be 
prepared to be equal partners with the other mem-
bers of a healthcare team, participating in new clinical 
roles and workflows to free physicians and nurses for 
direct patient care.

2. Participate in National health technology policy 
decisions to address priority national challenges. 
Pandemic-related impacts necessitated the rapid 
implementation of national health technology policy 
in many countries.5 This and experiences with other 
disasters (e.g., floods, wildfires, earthquakes, power 

outages) clearly show the need for international 
coordination of new national guidelines to sustain 
access to, availability of, and the transfer of critical 
healthcare technology tools. Clinical engineers can 
play an important role in informing and implementing 
such policies.

3. Engage with National and international alliances 
and partnerships to share expertise and lessons 
learned. Alliances, like the Global Clinical Engineer-
ing Alliance www.GlobalCEA.org,  will coordinate 
meetings of healthcare stakeholders (e.g., clinicians, 
administrators, and ministry of health personnel with 
clinical engineers) to examine areas of concern where 
CEs can make a difference. For example, the Global 
Clinical Engineering Alliance has offered webinars, a 
virtual international congress, and a global CE summit 
to identify and rank common global challenges. Such 
alliances can help those in the health sector, industry, 
academia, and NGOs drive cost-effective and high-qual-
ity innovations in healthcare delivery and manage the 
performance of the technology used at both points of 
care and in regional and global populations.

As healthcare delivery systems around the world are 
increasingly dependent on technology6 for the provision-
ing of their services, the expertise of clinical engineering 
professionals in the development, use, and management 
of this asset is critical for achieving the best outcomes. 
For both point-of-care and population health, a systems 
approach can improve the delivery of health services 
through education, workforce collaboration, inclusion 
in policy development, and engagement in partnerships. 
Records from the pandemic era show that these profes-
sionals have much to be proud of and appreciated as 
they delivered solutions critical to sustaining the lives of 
patients all over the world. Nevertheless, the new normal 
is expecting that clinical engineering professionals will 
continue to raise the bar on their commitment to pursue 
career-long continued education, credentialing, and active 
engagement in national associations and international 
alliances. As a result, credentialed Clinical engineering 
professionals will continue to be indispensable partners 

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org
http://www.GlobalCEA.org
http://www.GlobalCEA.org
http://www.GlobalCEA.org
https://www.globalcea.org/home
https://www.globalcea.org/home
https://www.globalcea.org/webinars
https://www.globalcea.org/icehtmc


J Global Clinical Engineering Vol.5 Issue 3, 2023  8

in achieving healthcare missions. The approach described 
here shows a pathway to achieve the outcomes during 
the new normal era we all desire.

REFERENCES

1. World Population to Reach 8 billion on 15 No-
vember 2022,  https://www.un.org/en/desa/
world-population-reach-8-billion-15-november-2022.

2. S. Hernandez, This Data is Alarming: Why over a 100k 
Nurses left Their job Last Year, 100K nurses left their 
jobs last year, the foundation says (kxan.com)

3. Judd, T., David, Y.  https://www.nationalacademies.
org/news/2022/05/the-growing-role-of-clinical-
engineering-merging-technology-at-the-point-of-care

Copyright © 2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY): Creative Commons - 
Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright 
owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction 
is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

4. Institute of Medicine. 2015  Measuring the Impact of 
Interprofessional Education on Collaborative Practice 
and Patient Outcomes (doi.org). Washington: National 
Academies Press.

5. Sharma, J., J. Bunders, T. . Zuiderent-Jerak, and B. 
Regeer. “A Model for Priority Setting in Health Tech-
nology Innovation Policy”. Global Clinical Engineering 
Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2020, pp. 24-34, doi:10.31354/
globalce.v2i3.84.4.

6. Judd, T., and Y. David. “Making a Difference – Global 
Health Technology Success Stories: Overview of over 
400 Submissions from 125 Countries”. Global Clinical 
Engineering Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018, pp. 24-49, 
doi:10.31354/globalce.v1i1.43.

http://www.globalce.org
http://www.globalce.org
https://www.un.org/en/desa/world-population-reach-8-billion-15-november-2022
https://www.un.org/en/desa/world-population-reach-8-billion-15-november-2022
https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/this-data-was-alarming-and-disturbing-why-over-a-100k-nurses-left-their-job-last-year/
https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/this-data-was-alarming-and-disturbing-why-over-a-100k-nurses-left-their-job-last-year/
http://kxan.com
https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2022/05/the-growing-role-of-clinical-engineering-merging-technology-at-the-point-of-care
https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2022/05/the-growing-role-of-clinical-engineering-merging-technology-at-the-point-of-care
https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2022/05/the-growing-role-of-clinical-engineering-merging-technology-at-the-point-of-care
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21726/measuring-the-impact-of-interprofessional-education-on-collaborative-practice-and-patient-outcomes
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21726/measuring-the-impact-of-interprofessional-education-on-collaborative-practice-and-patient-outcomes
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/21726/measuring-the-impact-of-interprofessional-education-on-collaborative-practice-and-patient-outcomes
http://doi.org

