Medical IT Training Simulator and Medical Device Cybersecurity

Simon Cowley
Acting Manager Clinical Engineering Department,
The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Time: 15 May 2018, 18:30 AEDT (Networking from 18:00)

Venue: The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Abstract

Medical IT Training Simulator

Healthcare organisations have a number of medical IT systems (such as physiological monitoring systems) that demand highly skilled biomedical engineers/technicians to support. The training simulator provides an environment for biomedical engineers/technicians (BMEs/BMETs) to develop skills on these complex medical IT systems in a controlled and measureable environment. Similar to clinical simulation environments, this training simulator can be used to train BMEs/BMETs on realistic scenarios for medical IT systems, such a system failures, hardware faults, along with cybersecurity incident response and recovery.

The simulator recently received an Australian Biomedical Engineering Innovations Award (ABEIA)

Medical Device Cybersecurity

Medical device cybersecurity is a risk to the safe, effective and secure use of medical devices in healthcare. Compromised medical devices can impact the capacity of a healthcare organisation to perform its primary business functions, caring for and treating patients. In addition, healthcare organisations have a wealth of sensitive data, highly sought after by criminal elements, which leads them to be a favourable target. Collaboration, a whole-of-business strategy and effective controls are essential to mitigate the cybersecurity risk of medical devices.

This presentation will provide an overview of the common vulnerabilities for medical devices, that if exploited, could result in a cyber incident. A list of effective cybersecurity controls, which align well with medical device manufacturer and regulatory requirements, will also be presented.

Biography

Simon Cowley is Acting Manager – Clinical Engineering Department at The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). Simon has extensive experience in healthcare technology management, specialising in medical IT and medical device cybersecurity. Simon also holds certifications in PRINCE2 project management and Cybersecurity. Currently employed at RMH for 10 years, Simon has previously worked in biomedical engineering for other Victorian healthcare organisations and biomedical service companies. Simon also has extensive experience from the industrial control system (ICS) sector prior to moving into healthcare.