Rehabilitation engineering
Encyclopedia
Rehabilitation engineering is the systematic application of engineering sciences
to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities. Functional areas addressed through rehabilitation engineering may include mobility, communications, hearing, vision, and cognition, and activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community
While some rehabilitation engineers have master’s degrees in rehabilitation engineering, usually a subspecialty of Biomedical engineering
, most rehabilitation engineers have undergraduate or graduate
degrees
in biomedical engineering
, mechanical engineering
, or electrical engineering
. A Portuguese university provides an undergraduate degree and a master degree in Rehabilitation Engineering and Accessibility. Qualification to become a Rehab' Engineer in the UK is possible via a University BSc Honours Degree course (such as the one at Coventry University .)
The rehabilitation process for people with disabilities often entails the design of assistive devices such as Walking aids intended to promote inclusion of their users into the mainstream of society, commerce, and recreation.
The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America
, whose mission is to "improve the potential of people with disabilities to achieve their goals through the use of technology", is one of the main professional society for rehabilitation engineers.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers conduct research in the rehabilitation engineering, each focusing on one general area or aspect of disability. For example, the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute conducts research for the blind
and visually impaired
. Many of the Veterans Administration
Rehabilitation Research & Development Centers conduct rehabilitation engineering research
Within the National Health Service
Rehabilitation Engineers (REs) are commonly involved with assessment and provision of wheelchairs and seating to promote good posture and independent mobility. This includes electrically powered wheelchairs, active user (lightweight) manual wheelchairs, and in more advanced clinics this may include assessments for specialist wheelchair control systems and/or bespoke seating solutions. Professional registration of NHS Rehab' Engineers is with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities. Functional areas addressed through rehabilitation engineering may include mobility, communications, hearing, vision, and cognition, and activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community
While some rehabilitation engineers have master’s degrees in rehabilitation engineering, usually a subspecialty of Biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
, most rehabilitation engineers have undergraduate or graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
degrees
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
, mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
, or electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
. A Portuguese university provides an undergraduate degree and a master degree in Rehabilitation Engineering and Accessibility. Qualification to become a Rehab' Engineer in the UK is possible via a University BSc Honours Degree course (such as the one at Coventry University .)
The rehabilitation process for people with disabilities often entails the design of assistive devices such as Walking aids intended to promote inclusion of their users into the mainstream of society, commerce, and recreation.
The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America
Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America
Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America is an interdisciplinary association of people with a common interest in technology and disability...
, whose mission is to "improve the potential of people with disabilities to achieve their goals through the use of technology", is one of the main professional society for rehabilitation engineers.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers conduct research in the rehabilitation engineering, each focusing on one general area or aspect of disability. For example, the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute conducts research for the blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and visually impaired
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
. Many of the Veterans Administration
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
Rehabilitation Research & Development Centers conduct rehabilitation engineering research
Within the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
Rehabilitation Engineers (REs) are commonly involved with assessment and provision of wheelchairs and seating to promote good posture and independent mobility. This includes electrically powered wheelchairs, active user (lightweight) manual wheelchairs, and in more advanced clinics this may include assessments for specialist wheelchair control systems and/or bespoke seating solutions. Professional registration of NHS Rehab' Engineers is with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM).
See also
- Rehabilitation Act of 1973
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995Disability Discrimination Act 1995The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010 , except in Northern Ireland where the Act still applies...
- medical engineering
- prosthetics
External links
- Licenciatura em Engenharia de Reabilitação e Acessibilidade Humanas
- Mestrado em Engenharia de Reabilitação e Acessibilidade Humanas
- RehabEngineer
- RESNA
- RERCs currently funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
- Coventry University
- Posture & Mobility Services, Rehabilitation Engineering Service