While all of these changes were occurring, the developing world was struggling against
poverty, basic diseases, and AIDS, all the while hindered by insufficient resources for
care. While one part of the world began to shut down excess capacity by closing and
merging hospitals, another part was still building its health care infrastructure. Clinical
engineers have been called upon to apply their skills in each of these situations, always
looking for economic solutions to technology-based problems. The technology may be
high or low, but the quality-of-care-vs.-cost tightrope is always being walked.