Clinical engineering in Peru: Looking for a healthcare technology management model

The Peruvian health system shows great weakness in the management of its technology as in many countries. The poor state of conservation of the infrastructure, biomedical and hospital equipment, that have exceeded its useful life, obsolete and not integrated, in addition to nonfunctional information systems, all of technological connotation, have led to sensitize authorities and health professionals regarding what should be done to strengthen the capacity to properly manage the technological environment on which health services are provided. This awareness is creating the conditions to welcome new proposals and models, not only on the management of technology, but also on the appropriate design of hospitals and their development in relation to technology, knowing that this is a process of constant evolution in the time. In this context, an account is made of the advances in this adaptation of the health system, the proposals in the management model and the profile of the clinical engineer from a holistic perspective, given their interaction not only with health professionals, clinics and administration, but also with hospital architecture and hospital engineering, considering that health technology, with its tangible and nontangible components, must be constituted as a coherent and functional conglomerate to provide appropriate health services.