Healthcare Systems Engineering Program
With the advancements in technology and data analytics, patient care continues to shift from practice to precision. Healthcare systems engineering is a new and future-focused field that combines engineering, computer science, data science and analysis, management and health sciences to solve complex problems in the health care system. It focuses on making health care systems available and better for everyone by analyzing and designing the systems to be more efficient, effective and patient-centered. It is not direct patient care but behind the scenes work to make patient care better.
SDSU is the first university in the nation to offer a B.S. degree in healthcare systems engineering. It is a more futuristic thinking, first-of-its-kind and multi-disciplinary engineering degree program offered in collaboration with the SDSU’s Colleges of Nursing; Natural Sciences; Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions; Education and Human Sciences; and Agriculture, and Food and Environmental Sciences.
Successful completion of the degree program will prepare students for employment in various fields within the health care industry or medical school. Graduates will have critical thinking and problem-solving skills and will be ready to not only meet the workforce needs of today’s industries but also shape the future of the health care sector.
What is health care system?
The health care system is complex and is made up of many different but interconnecting parts, such as hospitals, clinics, health insurance companies, government and regulatory agencies, medical supply chain companies, medical devices and devices manufacturers, pharmacies and the people who provide care. These parts need to work together smoothly in order to ensure high-quality patient care, improved patient safety, lower health care costs, reduced waiting times and improved work environment for health care professionals.
Bottom line: Improve quality, efficiency and overall patient care while ensuring health care availability to everyone and sustainability of health care systems.
Why study healthcare systems engineering?
Healthcare systems engineering program prepares students to gain technical, analytical and management skills to address real-world challenges in health care systems. The graduates will be able to contribute to building more efficient and sustainable health care systems while making a meaningful societal impact. This is a rewarding choice for those interested in making a positive impact on public health and the health care industry or wanting to study medicine. The healthcare systems engineering is for you if you want to:
- Improve quality, efficiency and overall patient care
- Design and develop medical technologies, devices and tools to improve patient care
- Improve health care system or its components
- Address health care disparities without “direct patient careâ€
- Shape the future of health care industry
- Study medicine or related field for direct patient care
Bottom line: If you care about patient care, this program is for you!
Our team is ready to help you join our program! Feel free to call or email us if you have any questions.
What is the difference between biomedical engineering and healthcare systems engineering?
Biomedical engineering primarily focuses on the design and development of medical technologies, devices, prosthetics, diagnostics tools, biomaterials, biomechanics, etc
Healthcare systems engineering takes the systems engineering approach to comprehensively improve quality, precision, efficiency, safety, availability, affordability and management of overall health care. In other words, biomedical engineering may be considered a subset of healthcare systems engineering.
What type of work do healthcare systems engineers do?
Graduates of this program will have the critical thinking and problem-solving skills to not only meet the workforce needs of today’s industries, but to shape the future of the health care sector. Some of the key tasks of healthcare systems engineers may include:
- Invent new technologies to serve health care needs
- Innovate, design, build and maintain equipment, medical devices and sensors used in health care
- Integrate engineering and clinical perspectives for medical innovations like targeted drugs and virtual surgeries
- Improve patient care through data-driven decisions
- Conduct research to optimize health care system workflow
- Manage and lead health care facilities
- Make health care accessible to rural/remote communities
- Influence policies to improve quality of health care
- Be a part of government and regulatory agencies
- Join public health organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization
- Implement efficient systems to streamline health care management
- Teach at higher education institutions after an advanced degree
- Join any company which hires engineers demonstrating critical thinking and problem-solving skills
- Start medical school or graduate school
What are career paths for healthcare systems engineering graduates?
With skills that combine health care knowledge with engineering principles, healthcare systems engineering graduates will have multiple career paths to optimize health care systems, improve patient care and reduce costs. Opportunities in the health care industry will emerge as this sector grows. With background in engineering, computer science, data science, management and health sciences, you will be ready for what comes in the future. The many possible roles could be:
- Health care engineer or healthcare systems engineer
- Health care systems analyst or health care data analyst
- Interdisciplinary engineer/engineer-physiologist defining the future of medicine
- Health care supply chain manager
- Health care quality improvement specialist
- Health care operations manager/coordinator
- Health care consultant
- Medical equipment engineer/manager
- Health policy analyst
- Health care IT project manager
- Patient safety specialist
- Regulatory affairs specialist
- Research scientist
- Rural health care specialist
- Telemedicine specialist
- Health technology integration specialist
- Hospital planner/health care facility designer
- Health informatics specialist
Which employers/companies are interested in healthcare systems engineering graduates?
Any company/organization/entity which is associated with health care industry
- Hospitals, clinics, health care providers, health care systems
- Government health agencies, regulatory agencies
- Public health organizations
- Health insurance companies
- Policy research organizations such as the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, CDC, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
- Health care consulting firms
- Think tanks and health care startups
- Academic and research institutions
- Nonprofit organizations
- Medical device/supplies manufacturers and distributors
- Biomedical engineering firms
- Health care IT companies such as Google, Amazon, IBM, Epic Systems
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Telemedicine companies
What does the healthcare systems engineering curriculum include?
Healthcare systems engineering is a field that combines engineering, computer science, data science, management and health sciences. Since the field is very broad, it is difficult to include everything within the 130 credit hours engineering degree. Therefore, the program is uniquely designed to provide flexibility to students to select a track of their interest and choice, which is not very common in other engineering fields. Below is an overview of the courses included in the curriculum:
- Communication, social science, arts and humanities (university core courses)
- Math, physics, chemistry
- Biology, anatomy, physiology, medical terminology
- Health informatics, health care management
- Data science, computer science, artificial intelligence
- Mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, electric circuits, engineering design, systems engineering
- Additional electives suitable for the following tracks:
- Artificial intelligence/data track
- Pre-med track
- Devices and sensors track
- Animal industry track
- General track
Will I be prepared to take MCAT if I choose this degree program?
Yes, if you choose pre-med track. You will take all the courses that are required to prepare for MCAT. Some of these courses will be selected from the list of electives. Since the program requires 130 credit hours to complete this degree program, the choice of additional technical electives may be limited. However, students who are interested in learning about additional topics, can take additional courses.
Is the healthcare systems engineering program at SDSU accredited?
Since this is a new B.S. degree program, it is not currently accredited. However, we will seek accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. For any new program to be accredited, the board requires at least one graduate from the program. Therefore, as soon as the first student graduates from this program, we will seek board accreditation.
