Project HOPE Clinical (Biomedical) Engineering Program - Experiences and Initiatives

Project HOPE is a nonprofit healthcare organization that provides wide ranging humanitarian and educational aid to people in underserved and developing countries as well as conducts global health policy research. HOPE´s clinical focus includes women and children´s health, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and other chronic and infectious diseases. HOPE has a strong, active technical focus and expertise in building clinical engineering (CE) capacity at all levels in the developing world. It has established and nurtured over 20 sustained CE programs in ten countries, on five continents around the world. These programs cover the broad spectrum of CE, from intra-hospital bench-top medical equipment repair to national educational and training program development. In this paper, we will describe HOPE´s CE holistic program model. We will emphasize the importance of the train-the-trainer approach to CE education. We will illustrate HOPE´s approach to CE capacity building with numerous specific program examples from the past 40 years. We will describe HOPE´s current unfolding program in Haiti, which began shortly after the 12 January 2010 earthquake in the Port-au-Prince region. We will review the partnerships that HOPE has formed, and is investigating, with technical/vocational education institutions to develop distance learning competency modules as well as transportable specialty modules that will update the curriculum and customize it for an area´s specific requirements. Historically, HOPE´s CE program has been managed by several dedicated volunteer directors who utilize their years of educational, technical and management experience synergistically with HOPE´s logistical and fundraising expertise to guide the organization in biomedical engineering endeavors to move project forward. The overriding message of the paper will emphasize the importance of assessment and donor/recipient communications. We will emphasize HOPE´s approach to CE education and training.