ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the status quo of clinical engineering departments (CED) in Guangdong province, to find out the main problems and challenges, and to give some suggestions on promoting the development of clinical engineering. Methods Questionnaires were issued to directors or engineers in hospitals on department missions, staff composition, quality control and obstructive factors for discipline development. Statistical analysis was executed for the questionnaires. Results Only 53.19% of the CED operated independently. The daily CE practice in Guangdong hospitals included carrying out procurement, installation, maintenance and archiving. Only 28.0%of the hospitals had QC instruments. The education backgrounds were mainly restrained in undergraduate degree and junior college degree, accounting for 80.0%. Totally 39.0% of the clinical engineers majored in biomedical engineering. The personnel with primary or intermediate professional titles accounted for 61.96%. There was 0.68 engineer per 100 beds or 0.23 engineer per ten million Yuan medical equipment. The top 3 factors that hindered the development of CE were inadequacy of professional staff, low education level and absence of laws and regulations. Conclusion CED in Guangdong province drops behind the outstanding institutions in China, and has to be promoted with the efforts of supervision facilities and etc.