Dr. Alan Murray, Professor of Cardiovascular Physics and Strategic Research Advisor in the Medical Faculty and Professor in the School of Engineering, both at Newcastle University in the UK.

Alan Murray is Professor of Cardiovascular Physics and Strategic Research Advisor in the Medical Faculty and Professor in the School of Engineering, both at Newcastle University in the UK. Before moving to Newcastle he studied and trained in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Alan is active in Translational Research bringing together Engineering and Medicine.

He has published over 300 research papers, including in Nature and Lancet, with co-author researchers in 19 countries worldwide. His primary areas of research are in the development of devices and measurement techniques of clinical value in cardiovascular medicine and surgery.

He has been Editor of Clinical Physics & Physiological Measurement, Editor in Chief of Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, and for 29 years Editor of Computing in Cardiology, published as a free-access publication and also by the IEEE. Currently he a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, Chartered Engineer, Chartered Scientist, Registered Clinical Scientist, and Honorary Life Member of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Alan’s research into medical devices, including their engineering design and safe clinical use led to the publication of the book he co-authored on “Medical Devices: Use and Safety”, which has been separately published in India, and in 2017 published in Mandarin Chinese by China Science and Technology Press.

Speech Title: Medical Device Safety

Abstract: Medical devices have made a huge contribution to clinical achievements in medicine and surgery. They enable diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to be undertaken safely. Many of today’s clinical procedures were not possible or even envisaged a few decades ago. Patients can now hope to live to an active old age.

However, with sadness we need to acknowledge that medical devices can and do cause harm. Thankfully, the percentage of procedures that result in patient harm or death is very small. Nevertheless there is much that can be done to improve this situation. Medical staff and bioengineers have collaborated successfully to produce innovative new procedures and devices. It is important that they also contribute to improving safety.

Medical devices can fail for many reasons. They include the following: devices can be too complicated to use, users are poorly trained, devices can unexpectedly change settings during use, devices can fail long before their expected life is over, maintenance can be poor, wrong consumables can be used, and the inventing bioengineer may not have fully understood the clinical problem. There is much that can be done to improve this situation, by both clinicians and bioengineers.