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Editor’s  Corner
Yesterday I was visiting my friend who manages one 

of the largest rental medical equipment company 
in the US. He told me that a customer desperately called 
him from a small town in the state of Louisiana and begged 
for two mechanical ventilators for a local healthcare fa-
cility. The customer, a local medical equipment supplier, 
told my friend that he has been calling everywhere for 
days but so far came up without one. Then, when my 
friend told him that he could immediately ship him the 
ventilators, the last two that the clinical engineers at 
his lab just serviced, this customer started to cry from 
happiness knowing that a couple more patients will be 
cared for. The pride and mission-accomplished look on 
the face of the clinical engineering staff standing next to 
me, silently listening to the story, was clear. They knew 
that their important job impacts and help real people, 
real patients in critical need. 

Clinical engineering professionals from around the 
world, like many other professionals nowadays, are 
struggling with their feelings of being overwhelmed, 

navigating changing ambiguities, and of having such 
a burden of a life-critical mission. Their mission, man-
aging technology that now focuses on attending to the 
support of urgent safe patient care, is challenged by 
the loss of regular (or normal) access to supply chain 
sources. Just a few weeks ago they could so simply and 
easily obtain medical equipment, disposable accessories, 
spare parts, manuals, and even qualified personal. Now, 
they search for personal protective gear, for rental or 
refurbished devices, seek newly released guidance on 
how to disinfect devices, and understand the impact of 
the latest regulatory changes. Simultaneously, they also 
have to deal with the sudden arrival of new inventory 
containing never-seen-before equipment for converting 
non-care locations into patient care isolation areas. All 
the while every country is trying to get a handle on what 
kind and how many medical devices are out there. We 
all share the challenges, but on top of that, we also see 
firsthand the loss of lives and the growing worries of the 
virus-contracted patient’s families, old and young alike.

These are unprecedented times; these are not normal 
times and special measures are being deployed daily. 
In January, just 10 weeks ago, I was part of a group of 
colleagues who initiated a Coronavirus call for action in 
response to emergency requests for assistance from our 
clinical engineering colleagues in China. Three weeks 
ago, I was helping to gain access to Coronavirus testing 
kits coming from China to the US. How quickly the world 
turns and how little we were prepared. Everywhere, 
plans and processes are changing. It is critical that in 
such times, clinical engineers will be served by rapid and 
reliable news and updates. The Internet contains many 
stories, and some are true and factual. But who has the 
time or knowledge to verify the source? Not when you 
are so committed, as our clinical engineering readers 
are, to deliver the most optimal and safe technology 
possible that our healthcare system needs. We cannot 
afford the time to sift through all these postings. But 

FIGURE.  Engineering technician, Rocky, perform the final test 
on a ventilator before placing her signature on the tag that 
states – PATIENT READY.

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J Global Clinical Engineering, Special Issue 3, 2020  2

these professionals are in constant need for up-to-date 
and reliable information that will help them to speed the 
construction of health isolation facilities, the conversion 
of hospital bed areas into isolated patient areas, the 
testing and servicing of medical products arriving in 
their facilities for the first time, and locating manuals, 
accessories, integration tools, and user information. 
Significant help is coming now in the form of the new 
IFMBE/Clinical Engineering Division curated and daily 
updated social media site Hacking Covid19, you can 
register at http://eepurl.com/gXOqlz. 

This is one of the reasons that the Global Clinical 
Engineering Journal has committed to quickly assemble 
and publish a special issue of the Journal on technology, 
engineering, and healthcare services that focus on im-
proving our chances in the fight over the COVID-19 pan-
demic. We have a target to get this done in two months’ 
time. We are committed to do whatever we can to help 
our readers learned from colleagues who have been 
through this fight. Through the collection, reviewing, and 
publishing of a series of manuscripts about healthcare 
facility operation during this COVID-19 pandemic from 
China, Italy, the USA, and other localities we hope that 
our field will advance and be better prepared for future 
challenges. The sharing of lessons learned will no doubt 
contribute to the improvement of patient-care services 
everywhere. I am calling on every member practicing 
in our filed to commit to write diaries of what is taking 
place at their jobs and submit their stories so that the 
rest of us can learn from them.

As I write this message, the combined effects of new 
capabilities and rapid information, along with virtual 
telehealthcare and 3-D printing have pushed us into 
territory that requires more evidence-based validation 
and professional engagement. If you do not believe 
that new products or services are being delivered with 
recognized and acceptable risks, you should sound the 
alarm. We, at the Global CE Journal, are working closely 
with IFMBE/CED on updating and expanding training 
and on resource sharing initiatives that will help you be 
successful in your career and fulfill patients’ expectations 
of our profession.

On behalf of all the patients in the world, I thank 
the silent heroes who manage and service one of 
the most important building blocks of modern 
healthcare delivery. We care about your families 
not less than you care for our patients!  

Stay healthy and safe.
Together we can do it better!

Dr. Yadin David

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 
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