M. Tech Clinical engineering

Master of Technology in Clinical Engineering is an inter-disciplinary Post-Graduate program offered jointly by three institutes namely Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore (CMC Vellore), Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Trivandrum (SCTIMST). This Program was started in the year 2008 with the assistance of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. The three institutes in this joint program are premier institutes in India in their respective fields. This is the only program currently in India that trains engineers in the field of Clinical Engineering. It is one of the two programs jointly offered by these three institutes, the other being a PhD in Biomedical Devices & Technology. The curriculum of the course is unique and structured in such a way that students get exposed to development and life cycle of medical devices right from the concept stage to its clinical use. Interaction with renowned faculties in the field Medicine and Biomedical engineering is one of the salient features of this course.


Course structure

Semester 1 (IIT Madras)
  • Cellular,Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (Department of Biotechnology)
  • Biomechanics (Department of Applied Mechanics)
  • Management Elective (Department of Management Sciences)
  • Compulsory Engineering Electives
  • Introduction to Research (Inter-Departmental)

Semester 2 (CMC Vellore)
  • Functional Anatomy and Physiology (Department of Physiology & Department of Anatomy)
  • Transducers and Instrumentation for Physiological Measurements (Department of Bio-Engineering)
  • Medical Imaging (Department of Medical Physics)
  • Functional Anatomy and Physiology Lab (Department of Physiology & Department of Anatomy)
  • Clinical Attachment (CMC hospital, Schell Eye Hospital, Community Health & Development Hospital(CHAD), LCECU)
  • Minor Project for duration of 2.5 months

Semester 3 (BMT Wing, SCTIMST)
  • Medical Device Technology
  • Biomaterials
  • Critical Care Instrumentation and Therapeutic Equipment
  • Clinical Engineering, Quality system & Management
  • Design Tools for Clinical Engineering - Laboratory
  • Engineering Problems in Hospitals - Laboratory
  • Clinical Attachment (SCTIMST hospital)
  • Clinical Engineering Internship - External (SCTIMST hospital)

Semester 4

Major Project: As students spend a considerable amount of time in these three institutes, they have a scope to interact with many experienced faculties and explore various lab facilities. With this exposure they can choose a project of their interest in any of these laboratories.

Upon graduation, students can:

  • Contribute to immediate specific needs of industries, R&D labs, Hospitals
  • Be innovators and leaders in specific areas of medical technology
  • Become entrepreneurs specializing in medical devices.

Unique features

Idea generation exercise

All the students are required to independently identify the problems in clinical settings during their clinical attachment and then try to solve them using an innovative approach and finally submit the solutions which are novel, practical and implementable. one or more of these ideas might on a later stage be implemented as a project.

This gives the students a chance to hone their skills of innovative thinking. Hundreds of such ideas have been generated so far.

Clinical attachment

Clinical Attachment gives opportunity to explore and get familiarized with the clinical environment. It provides the student with skill-set to identify and translate the unmet needs in the clinic as well as to work as an interface between the engineering professionals and clinicians in identifying and solving problems pertaining to medical devices.

  • Clinical Attachment at CMC Vellore: At CMC Vellore, the clinical attachment is 2 days per week for an entire semester leading to more than 100 hours of total clinical rotation across about 10 clinical departments.
  • Clinical Attachment at SCTIMST: The clinical attachment at SCTIMST Hospital is 2 days per week, where the students have to spend 8 hours per day in a department and have an opportunity to interact with the Clinicians and know about the unmet clinical needs. The students are posted at various departments like Cardiology, Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Radiology and Anesthesia.

Eligibility criteria
  • GATE qualified candidates (GATE Paper code must be AE, BT, CE, CH, CS, EC, EE, IN, ME, MN, MT, PI, TF or XE) with Bachelor's degree in Engineering/ Technology/ Architecture from educational Institutions approved by AICTE/ Government.
  • Candidates graduating/ graduated from IITs with B.Tech. Degree and having CGPA of 8.0 (on a scale of 10) and above can apply without GATE Score. These applications will be reviewed by the respective Department(s).

Admission

The admissions are carried out by IIT Madras at the IIT Madras campus, Chennai. Only the candidates with a valid GATE score are eligible to apply for this program. Applications can be sent in when the notification is released (generally in the period of March every year). The candidates are shortlisted directly based on GATE scores and the candidates can freeze their options through COAP (Common Offer Acceptance Portal). Intake currently being offered under this program is around 16 students every year.

M.Tech to PhD conversion

M.Tech students meeting certain criteria (minimum CGPA) can be allowed to transit to a PhD program after the third semester. The decision can be made at the end of the second semester according to the rules at IIT Madras ("IITM M.Tech Ordinances".)

References
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