Holly Johnson is an imaging equipment technician in Minneapolis. She used
to be a general biomedical equipment technician, but now she specializes in
radiology ultrasound equipment. She says this is a demanding career.
"It can be physically and mentally stressful due to the complexity, overall
size of the equipment, the time restraints and staff demands for turn-around
time," she says.
"We repair the medical equipment when it breaks down, and we complete all
of the preventative/routine maintenance on it," says Johnson. "In order to
be efficient at our job, we need to understand the theory of operation, the
most common operator errors and equipment weak spots, and the fastest repair
options. Many times we have to pull from multiple resources including the
service manual, schematics (for board-level troubleshooting), tech support
and, often times, our peers."
Johnson works for a health services company. Her job involves traveling
to various hospitals in a two- to three-hour radius to service their equipment.
She says people skills are very important for BMETs.
"I actually got hired for my current job [largely] based on customer service,"
says Johnson. "I would say 80 percent of our job is customer service --
keeping the equipment up and running, thereby keeping our customers happy."
A major life event inspired Bill Hascup to become a biomedical equipment
technician.
"I was intrigued with medical equipment during the birth of my son," says
Hascup. "I wanted to be the person responsible for the service on the equipment
that was in that birthing room."
Hascup is now a senior BMET and president of the 2012 Florida Biomed Society.
His specialty is sterilization equipment. As a senior BMET, he is responsible
for training biomeds on the maintenance and service of sterilization equipment.
What personal qualities are important for people in this field? "Integrity
and honesty are very important," says Hascup. "Having good communication skills
and being detail-oriented are also important."
BMETs collaborate a lot with other health-care professionals. This makes
for an interesting work environment.
Along with the rewards of this career, there are challenges such as "continuing
to grow my skill level to keep pace with today's medical equipment changes,"
says Hascup.
Your curiosity about how things work will help you keep pace with those
changes. That curiosity is essential, says Roy Sharplin. He's a biomedical
engineering technologist. He's also associate chair of the biomedical technology
program at a technology institute.
"If you're a person that's... never wondered how your furnace works, you
never thought to figure out how your garage door knows not to close if there's
something in the way -- if that sort of question doesn't pop up in your mind...
then you're going to find that a lot of what we talk about is [uninteresting
to you]," says Sharplin. "We're trying to explain in relatively deep, technical
detail how systems in the world work.
"When we talk about a medical device, it's a system that includes a person,
the patient and the clinical staff, and then the computer and a whole bunch
of sensors and transducers and control systems. And they're all interrelated
and they all are interacting with each other, so that's what we're talking
about all the time.
"And occasionally, we have people come into the program and they're quite
smart -- they get all of the algebra and they can do everything -- but whenever
we start talking about how things work, they tune out because they're not
interested. It's not what turns their crank. They do well, they get good marks,
but then when they graduate, they usually go to some offshoot of the career
that doesn't really involve figuring out how things work."
Mark Cleland is a senior medical devices technologist at a large health
center. He first became interested in the field while in high school.
"In the 1980s when I was going through high school, there was a definite
rise in technological courses and interests within the schooling system,"
says Cleland. "It seemed dynamic."
Cleland's father worked a lot with his hands and had very good work habits.
Cleland himself developed proficiency with hand tools. His mother was a nurse
manager within the operating room of a nearby hospital.
"She spoke of the challenges to learn these high-tech microscopes, electrosurgical
machines, etc.," says Cleland. "Listening to these stories, I thought of the
opportunities for seeing and learning about some pretty cool things. I had
the opportunity to go in and view some surgeries. It was striking how the
nurses were always so focused on the patient at the other end of the equipment,
and the surgeon [and I] were fascinated with the technology they were about
to use."
In his current role, Cleland is responsible for maintaining electromedical
equipment within the life support floor of the health center. He works very
closely with the surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, perfusionist and respiratory
therapist.
"This multidisciplinary group employs a wide range of technology in their
care and treatment of a patient," says Cleland. "I am part of a group that
ensures the technology is working well and that the staff are comfortable
in its use. Teaching is an important component of my day, as well as listening.
The staff who use the equipment on a daily basis are often your best source
for troubleshooting and addressing future needs of the group."