Biomedica

Laxminarayan, S., Bronzino, J. D., Beneken, J. E. W., Usai, S., Jones, R. D. "Swamy Laxminarayan, Joseph D. Bronzino, Jan E. W. Beneken, Shiro Usai, Richard D. Jones" The Biomedical Engineering Handbook: Second Edition. Ed. Joseph D. Bronzino Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 2000

APPENDIX

A

The Role of Professional Societies in Biomedical Engineering
Swamy Laxminarayan
New Jersey Instituteof Technology

A.1

Biomedical Engineering Societies in the World
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) • IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) • Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society • European Society for Engineering in Medicine (ESEM) • French Groups for Medical and Biological Engineering • International Federation for Medical andBiological Engineering (IFMBE) • International Union for Physics and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) • International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) • Biomedical Engineering Societies in Japan • BME Activities in Australia and New Zealand • Bioengineering in Latin America

Joseph D. Bronzino
Trinity College/Biomedical Engineering Alliance for Connecticut (BEACON)

Jan E. W.Beneken
Eindhoven University of Technology

Shiro Usai
Toyohashi University of Technology

Richard D. Jones
Christchurch Hospital

A.2

Summary

Professionals have been defined as an aggregate of people finding identity in sharing values and skills absorbed during a common course of intensive training. Parsons [1954] stated that one determines whether or not individuals are professionals byexamining whether or not they have internalized certain given professional values. Friedson [1971] redefined Parson’s definition by noting that a professional is someone who has internalized professional values and is to be recruited and licensed on the basis of his or her technical competence. Furthermore, he pointed out that professionals generally accept scientific standards in their work,restrict their work activities to areas in which they are technically competent, avoid emotional involvement, cultivate objectivity in their work, and put their clients’ interests before their own. The concept of a profession that manages technology encompasses three occupational models: science, business, and profession. Of particular interest in the contrast between science and profession. Science isseen as the pursuit of knowledge, its value hinging on providing evidence and communicating with colleagues. Profession, on the other hand, is viewed as providing a service to clients who have problems they cannot handle themselves. Science and profession have in common the exercise of some knowledge, skill, or expertise. However, while scientists practice their skills and report their results toknowledgeable colleagues, professionals—such as lawyers, physicians, and engineers—serve lay clients. To protect both the professional and the client from the consequences of the layperson’s lack of knowledge, the practice of the profession is regulated through such formal institutions as state licensing. Both professionals and scientists must persuade their clients to accept their findings.Professionals endorse and follow a specific

© 2000 by CRC Press LLC

code of ethics to serve society. On the other hand, scientists move their colleagues to accept their findings through persuasion [Goodman, 1989]. Consider, for example, the medical profession. Its members are trained in caring for the sick, with the primary goal of healing them. These professionals not only have a responsibility ofthe creation, development, and implementation of that tradition, they also are expected to provide a service to the public, within limits, without regard of self-interest. To ensure proper service, the profession itself closely monitors licensing and certification. Thus medical professionals themselves may be regarded as a mechanism of social control. However, this does not mean that other...