Medical What is the specialty called for electronic implant surgery?

[TranscedentKid]

What does this fall under?

 

[BillTre]

Surgery to Implant Electronics sounds like Surgery to me.
Presumably you would know something about the electronics you were implanting too.
Example: surgery to implant a heart stimulater.

Making the electronics would be more like Engineering.
Example: designing the heart stimulater.

 

[berkeman]

I did look through the AMA specialties definition list earlier today, and didn't find anything more specific than surgeon...

 

[berkeman]

What does this fall under?

Are you asking this because you are pre-med and would like to specialize in this? You could probably talk to your university advisor to get some suggestions on specialties to look into...

 

[Fervent Freyja]

There is no one specialty for this. Electronic, chemical, and mechanical implants can fall under the domain of various specialty surgeons, some general surgeons may be able to perform some procedures like birth control pellets/implants, penis pump implants, cochlear implants, insulin pumps, etc.- but more sensitive procedures, like installing a pacemaker, are left to cardio-thoracic surgeons. There aren't very many electronic implants as of yet, maybe in the future the specialty will be necessary.

 

[BillTre]

If your interested in doing non-people (research animals), many kinds of research could apply, without requiring MD like training.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

If your interested in doing non-people (research animals), many kinds of research could apply, without requiring MD like training.

A doctorate is almost always going to be required for those directly experimenting with animals, these folks go through very specialized training programs.

 

[BillTre]

A graduate student in a lab doing this stuff could do it.
Would require a review and approval from an IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) and would probably get significant advice from a vet.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

A graduate student in a lab doing this stuff could do it.
Would require a review and approval from an IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) and would probably get significant advice from a vet.

In this case, the graduate student is working underneath the direction of someone with a doctorate. There is far less freedom working in a lab like this, as the student isn't making their own decisions but doing what they call slave work, and isn't authorized to do much more. Who is ultimately responsible here, if the student makes a mistake or commits an ethical violation? The person supervising the student...

 

[BillTre]

Although my experience as a grad student is somewhat dated, this:

In this case, the graduate student is working underneath the direction of someone with a doctorate. There is far less freedom working in a lab like this, as the student isn't making their own decisions but doing what they call slave work, and isn't authorized to do much more.

would depend on which lab you are in and this:

Who is ultimately responsible here, if the student makes a mistake or commits an ethical violation? The person supervising the student...

would depend upon the people and situation.
But the person in charge would always be someone who would get questioned.