Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE CBC5111

 
TITLE Medical Instrumentation and Physiological Measurement

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 10

 
DEPARTMENT Centre for Biomedical Cybernetics

 
DESCRIPTION Medical Instrumentation and Physiological Measurement is one of the core pillars which underpins the field of biomedical engineering. It provides the student with an introduction to the basic concepts of instrumentation which form the basis of medical equipment development. The unit describes the physical and electrical properties of human tissues and organs, as well as their biological function. It then provides the student with the necessary specialist understanding of the sensors, circuits and technologies used to measure the physiological state of a subject.

Study-unit Aims:

The unit aims to:
1. Provide a critical understanding of the role of medical instrumentation within healthcare;
2. Provide specialist knowledge and understanding of analogue electric circuit theory, basic instrumentation building components and their limitations, digital circuits and their limitations, the role of noise, its sources, and its impact on signals acquired, and basic concepts behind amplification and filtering of biopotentials;
3. Provide critical awareness of the various types of medical devices employing instrumentation techniques for measurement of physiological state;
4. Provide critical awareness of the limitations inherent to physiological measurement and the future challenges associated with such limitations;
5. Provide a critical awareness of the fundamental concepts behind medical electrical safety.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate awareness and understanding of the origin of biopotentials;
2. Correctly identify a variety of analogue and digital circuits employed in medical instrumentation;
3. Identify sources of noise in electronic systems, their impact on physiological systems, and how to design counter-measures to limit their effect;
4. Design and analyze basic instrumentation circuits for physiological measurement;
5. Correctly identify and describe function of various medical devices in healthcare setting;
6. Correctly identify and describe techniques for designing electrically safe circuits.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Correctly specify analogue and digital circuits for physiological measurement;
2. Correctly specify appropriate filtering circuits;
3. Correctly design simple analogue and digital building blocks for physiological measurement and filtering;
4. Correctly analyze simple analogue and digital building blocks for physiological measurement and filtering.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Essential text: Webster, John G. (2009), Medical Instrumentation: Application and Design, 4th Edition, Wiley, ISBN: 978-0-471-67600-3

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Independent Study, Practicum & Tutorial

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 No 25%
Examination (2 Hours) SEM2 Yes 75%

 
LECTURER/S Carl Azzopardi

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit