EBME Forums Forums Management Training What to teach undergraduate medical engineers?

Hello
I'm responsible for a 3rd year module (single semester, 10 credits) in a Medical Engineering undergraduate degree. It's called 'Medical Device Evaluation' and currently is aimed at teaching the skills and knowledge that are used in a NICE-style health technology assessment (HTA) of medical devices.
These are the current learning outcomes that I would like to review:

Evaluate the value proposition (benefits and costs) of a medical technology to the UK NHS:
• Explain the reasons, processes, and implications of health technology appraisal for drugs and medical devices
• Design systematic search strategies to find appropriate evidence (clinical studies)
o Read clinical studies and identify their strengths and weaknesses (critical appraisal)
o Summarise the clinical effectiveness
• Build or review the economic case for using a medical technology
• Identify evidence gaps and design a study to address these
• Appraise the clinical evidence for diagnostic tests

My general question in reviewing these is, "What should medical engineering students be able to do by the end of this module?" Are these the most useful skills? I previously removed research ethics as a topic, but is this more important to employers than systematic literature searching?
I'm hoping that I can improve the relevance of my module to the needs of the wider clinical engineering community. What do employers (NHS or industry) want new graduates to be able to do?

(I should point out that our department conducts HTAs, clinical trials, and economic evaluations of medical devices, so don't ask me to teach regulatory procedures or electrical safety! That's a different module.)

Sue Peirce, Cardiff University