Clinical engineering is a specialty within Biomedical engineering responsible primarily for applying and implementing medical technology to optimize healthcare delivery. Clinical engineers monitor the progression of the state-of-the-art in order to redirect hospital procurement patterns accordingly.

Their inherent focus on practical implementation of technology has tended to keep them oriented more towards incremental-level redesigns and reconfigurations, as opposed to "revolutionary" R&D or cutting-edge ideas that would be many years from clinical adoptability.  In their various roles, they form a sort of "bridge" between product originators and end-users, by combining the perspectives of being both close to the point-of-use ("front lines"), while also trained in product and process design.