Systems Admin for a hospital

[cbennett926]

Hello,

I figured I'd ask this here and get some opinions on mostly well educated individuals ;)


I am currently a second year computer engineering student and I want to somehow apply my degree to the hospital environment, right now I have a student job as a systems administrator for the university library. I repair, deploy, and monitor systems within the library, and other libraries around campus.

I feel like this is something I am really good at, I also want to work with hardware and do Unix/Linux implementation.

Is going down the Computer Engineering path what is right for wanting to also be involved in the hospital atmosphere? Should I get a degree in biomedical engineering instead?

All the best,

Cody Bennett

[EDIT]


Whoops more information:

I want to make better medical hardware for hospitals, not do doctor type work and such

[mips]

Is going down the Computer Engineering path what is right for wanting to also be involved in the hospital atmosphere? Should I get a degree in biomedical engineering instead?


I want to make better medical hardware for hospitals, not do doctor type work and such

If you wanna work with or design/develop stuff like pacemakers, insulin pumps, operating room monitors, defibrillators, EKGs etc etc then a degree in biomedical engineering would be more suitable. You will require knowledge of medicine to work in this field.

If you just wanna look after hospital IT system then it's not required.

Biomedical engineering is a interdisciplinary field and I suspect you would have to at least do a masters degree due to the wide scope of knowledge required. For the above you would have to do a biomedical engineering degree with specialisation in Electrical engineering and not chemical or mechanical.

Your best bet is to go speak to your local councilors/advisers and people working in the field (try phoning companies that develop medical devices).

[Paqman]

Are you a (student) member of any professional bodies (IET, IEEE, etc)? See if you can talk to someone about mentorship. If you aren't a member, they're generally dirt cheap to join while you're a student, and they can help you plan your studies and career.

[cbennett926]

Are you a (student) member of any professional bodies (IET, IEEE, etc)? See if you can talk to someone about mentorship. If you aren't a member, they're generally dirt cheap to join while you're a student, and they can help you plan your studies and career.


I'm a member of IEEE, and I am also about to start to work directly under the Systems Server Administrator here and get a lot of experience I am very excited!

[Paqman]

I'm a member of IEEE, and I am also about to start to work directly under the Systems Server Administrator here and get a lot of experience I am very excited!

Definitely do some networking then and see if you can make contact with somebody working in the field you want to move into.

[cbennett926]

Definitely, it's very excited to start actually entering the real world and contributing to society!