Newly registered on HAF

[Non Quixote]

I may regret asking this but, what is a biomedical engineer?

lol...not at all.

Biomedical engineers work with medical devices.  Design, maintenance, repair, trials, etc.

Anything from a little suction pump up to MRI machines, although major equipment like that is highly specialized.

We'd call them a medical technician in the UK.

Really?  Med techs in the US are the people who clean up poop and other fun stuff.

Well, that isn't quite fair, they take vitals and things too I think.  Like BP and temp.

Wouldn't those tasks be for nurses?

Taking vitals or cleaning up vomit and poop?

Nurses do take vitals, but qualified med techs can also be assigned to things like taking BP and temperature as I said.  Mostly the techs clean the rooms and the patients.

[Non Quixote]

(although a walk through the NICU can break your heart)

I highly doubt it would have enough impact to even slightly crack mine. Babies, you see, are on my despised-list, and my compassion towards them is limited thereafter.

I don't know, I think you would have to experience it to be able to decide.  Watching a tiny child in an incubator battle for their lives, and knowing that you can't do any more to help them would touch anyone with even a smidge of emotion at least a little I would think.  Especially the ones that are circling the drain, gasping out their last breaths while you're watching their vitals tank.  I honestly don't know how the NICU nurses do it day in and day out without jumping off the roof or drinking a gallon of Vodka.

By the way, I hate babies too. 

Hmmm...that isn't right.  I hate being around them. I don't wish them harm, I just don't want them anywhere near me.

[Asmodean]

I don't know, I think you would have to experience it to be able to decide.

Probably. However, I think I know me well enough to estimate such matters.

Watching a tiny child in an incubator battle for their lives, and knowing that you can't do any more to help them would touch anyone with even a smidge of emotion at least a little I would think.

Me, I'm not sure I would WANT to help. I don't instantly (Or at all, really) bond with babies, like some people seem to, nor do I find them cute, adorable, nice or anything else other than noisy and potentially smelly, really.

Especially the ones that are circling the drain, gasping out their last breaths while you're watching their vitals tank.  I honestly don't know how the NICU nurses do it day in and day out without jumping off the roof or drinking a gallon of Vodka.

Maybe they are like me, although if that be the case, why work in neonatology at all..? Maybe they let it out somehow. Maybe they grow cold and stop caring with experience. I don't know... Would make for an interesting survey, I think.

Hmmm...that isn't right.  I hate being around them. I don't wish them harm, I just don't want them anywhere near me.

Well, I only take it one step further, really: I'm no more fazed by sick or injured kids than by sick or injured strangers. I may help when it is expected (Like in motor vehicle collisions or near-drownings), even go do-or-die if required, but not out of love for my fellow man.

[Non Quixote]

Fair enough Asmodean.

[TheWalkingContradiction]

...cleaning up vomit and poop?

Well, that's what I do for my cat, at any rate...  (Why do I get the feeling that she is snickering as I type?)

You sound very well educated and very interesting!