A few years back, I performed a cohort analysis to study retention of entry-level biomedical engineers over a ten-year period. At first glance, this data appeared promising and aligns with many of the reasons why biomedical engineering, medical device repair, and healthcare technology management are some of the best and fastest growing careers out there. […]
February 13, 2018
Barrett Franklin: What’s Your Cornerstone to Success?
Recently, I was asked what I considered the “cornerstone of my success” within my organization. After hemming and hawing for a moment, I said that I believed that communication was, is, and will continue to be the cornerstone of my success. As I step back and think about it a bit more, I’m convinced that […]
January 25, 2018
Eben Kermit: When You’re Sick, ‘It Is What It Is’
After spending nine hours in the emergency department with abdominal pain (Part 1: Biomed Process Improvement from the Other Side of the Bed), I began my stay as a hospital inpatient. As an engineer, I continued to lean on my analytical “tool box” to notice areas for “process improvement.” I observed the “floor” as a […]
January 23, 2018
Larry Fennigkoh: Lessons from the Hawaiian Missile Scare
The recent and horrific false ballistic missile attack alarm that occurred in Hawaii last week triggered a flood of emotion, as well as unpleasant parallel memories. While not on the same statewide scope as the incident in Hawaii, I’m reminded of situations when dedicated, well-meaning, and educated healthcare providers have also made mistakes, and patients […]
January 18, 2018
Eben Kermit: ‘Process Improvement’ from the Other Side of the Bed
I am an engineer. By definition, I use the engineer’s “tool box” of observation, data, didactic reasoning, hypothesis, and testing to solve problems. One subset of these is “process improvement.” There are many popular and traditional methods including Six Sigma, Pareto charts, and Fish Bones. In addition, there are other metrics such as Net Promoter […]
January 4, 2018
Arif Subhan: Educating Future Generations of Healthcare Technology Management Professionals
Over the years, many of us have participated in mentoring, training, and certification activities related to the work of healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals (both clinical engineers and biomedical equipment technicians [BMETs]). Personally and professionally, we have benefited immensely from these efforts and found them to be highly rewarding. Many certification programs are available to […]
January 2, 2018
William Hyman: FDA Database for Medical Device Recalls Falls Short
The FDA’s database for medical device recalls has a search function that includes a pull-down menu for the root cause of the recall. These root causes correspond to the single “FDA Determined Cause” on each recall notice. There are six different entries on the menu that use the word software. These are (in the order […]
December 14, 2017
Mark Heston: Want to Help Patients? Start Thinking Like One
A couple of years ago, I participated in an informal study. The study centered on improving patient satisfaction scores. During a three-day stay, the patient interfaced with an average of 64 hospital staff members. Blue scrubs. Grey scrubs. Green scrubs. No scrubs. White coats. Blue coats. Long coats. Short coats. Name tags. No name tags. […]
December 12, 2017
Donald Armstrong: For Career Growth, Give Management a Shot
Do I want to take on a management role, or am I happiest in a staff position? Many biomeds will face this question in their careers, especially if they’ve been working in the field for more than five years. To give this question some context, consider these facts: There are 5,564 hospitals in the United […]
November 14, 2017
Robert Sayle: Going with the (Analytics) Flow
Hey biomed! It’s me again, Bob in IT. What are you doing up here in labor and delivery? I’m here troubleshooting a problem the nurses are having with their wireless phones. I’m glad I ran into you—got a moment? We’ve been talking a lot about on-boarding your equipment: authentication, profiling, and then securing the link. […]
February 16, 2018
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