I've been in this profession for a few years now. There has always been a feeling that we are the underdogs. I think that this boils down to the view that EBME technicians and engineers have lower academic qualifications and this justifies physicists being 'in charge'. I disagree, in my my experience - a well qualified engineer with EBME experience is the best person to manage EBME staff, and it therefore follows that an EBME/Clinical Engineering society will best represent EBME/Clinical engineering.... or does it? I am a member of the IET. I have turned down invitations to join IPEM for the above reasons, but i do feel the tide is changing. IPEM needs membership to generate income. We are a growing profession. Therefore, it makes sense for IPEM to think about our needs, and I believe they are. I have been a member of the IET for years, been on their medical engineering special interest group, and I feel that they represent our profession and carry more clout than IPEM. I don't know whether it is worth setting up our own institute, but a focus group with input from IPEM, IET, IHEEM, etc would be a good idea. I though AIME (Assosiation of institutes for medical engineering) was meant to address this point, but it seems to have gone quiet. ??? What should we do?
