Overview for special issue: global issues in clinical engineering

When Dr. Luis Kun first asked me to serve as guest editor for a special issue on clinical engineering, I immediately accepted with enthusiasm. Having a co-editor such Dr. Yadin David was both a great privilege and a guarantee of involving the best professionals in the world. I have been serving as member of the Clinical Engineering Division Board of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE/CED) for many years and I had the privilege of leading this board as elected chairman for three years (2015–18). That experience has given me a tremendous opportunity to increase my awareness on this very particular field of knowledge, by understanding the several challenges among different countries and settings in the world, as well as the many similar issues that clinical engineers from all over the world are facing in their daily activities. Having the chance to interact with hundreds of colleagues from all over the world, I realized that, in comparison to the past, there is today a lot of research in clinical engineering. Methodologies for investments planning, for assessing risks, for designing management protocols based on evidence (Evidence Based Maintenance) need to be shared, discussed, criticized, tested, compared. More and more, clinical engineers are becoming aware of this and are increasing their publications on conference proceedings, new international handbooks and journals. This special issue focusing on global issues in clinical engineering is an excellent step forward in this direction, with several articles reporting experiences from Asia, Europe, America and Africa, together with an article dedicated to a worldwide clinical engineering survey. Many topics are discussed, including the quality of patient care, clinical decision support systems, disaster preparedness, computerized management systems, and more. I sincerely hope you will find many answers to your questions but also – maybe more importantly – many new questions that urge answers from you! Ernesto Iadanza