Biomedical Services: Maintaining essential medical equipment for hospitals & physicians
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All about Hospital Biomedical Services & Clinical Engineering
Biomedical Services maintain essential medical equipment, ensuring reliable diagnostic and therapeutic tools are available for patients.
Biomedical technicians perform this vital work in hospitals, physicians offices, and independent service organizations, as well as with original equipment manufacturers and medical missions.
Scope and Role
Biomedical engineering is the general term for application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. Today, the term "biomedical engineering" is most frequently applied to research and development aspects of advanced specialty fields like biomaterials or rehabilitation engineering (Wikipedia: Biomedical engineering). On the other hand, "clinical engineering" or "biomedical services" are terms used to describe the applied aspects of biomedical engineering, most frequently in the hospital setting.
Although the terms are often used synonymously, "biomedical services" typically focuses on the management and maintenance of medical equipment and their service contracts, while clinical engineering (Wikipedia: Clinical engineering) focuses on these as well as broader aspects, including management of the "human factor" of medical technology. In addition, clinical engineering departments typically require more advanced training, degrees or certifications than their biomedical services counterparts. In reality, departments with either name employ biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), imaging technicians, and have a broad scope of responsibilities including equipment maintenance, inventory control, overseeing safety and regulatory issues, and serving as consultants for for the organization on any issue where medical devices are concerned. Because of the complex and interrelated aspects of medical technology, BMETs and imaging technicians work closely with other departments such as information technology, medical physics, radiology and laboratory.
Biomedical technicians perform this vital work in hospitals, physicians offices, and independent service organizations, as well as with original equipment manufacturers and medical missions.
Scope and Role
Biomedical engineering is the general term for application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. Today, the term "biomedical engineering" is most frequently applied to research and development aspects of advanced specialty fields like biomaterials or rehabilitation engineering (Wikipedia: Biomedical engineering). On the other hand, "clinical engineering" or "biomedical services" are terms used to describe the applied aspects of biomedical engineering, most frequently in the hospital setting.
Although the terms are often used synonymously, "biomedical services" typically focuses on the management and maintenance of medical equipment and their service contracts, while clinical engineering (Wikipedia: Clinical engineering) focuses on these as well as broader aspects, including management of the "human factor" of medical technology. In addition, clinical engineering departments typically require more advanced training, degrees or certifications than their biomedical services counterparts. In reality, departments with either name employ biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), imaging technicians, and have a broad scope of responsibilities including equipment maintenance, inventory control, overseeing safety and regulatory issues, and serving as consultants for for the organization on any issue where medical devices are concerned. Because of the complex and interrelated aspects of medical technology, BMETs and imaging technicians work closely with other departments such as information technology, medical physics, radiology and laboratory.
The History of Biomedical Services
While the foundations of biomedical and clinical engineering can be traced back for more than 60 years, an article by Ralph Nadar in the March 1971 issue of Ladies Home Journal is credited with kick starting the development of biomedical services within hospitals. In the article, Nadar claimed that stray electrical currents in hospital medical equipment were causing 1,200 patient electrocutions annually.
Although the article's conclusions are now viewed as largely exagerated, they provided the impetus for the development of safety testing and preventative maintenance in hospitals across the United States. Today, the issue of electrical safety is no longer the critical issue that it used to be, and the function of biomedical departments has expanded to include other responsibilities -- including concerns for an even broader range of safety issues related to the use of complex medical technology.
Related Articles
The Past and Pending: A brief history of the biomedical field by 24x7 Magazine
AAMI 40th Anniversary Retrospective (PDF)
Although the article's conclusions are now viewed as largely exagerated, they provided the impetus for the development of safety testing and preventative maintenance in hospitals across the United States. Today, the issue of electrical safety is no longer the critical issue that it used to be, and the function of biomedical departments has expanded to include other responsibilities -- including concerns for an even broader range of safety issues related to the use of complex medical technology.
Related Articles
The Past and Pending: A brief history of the biomedical field by 24x7 Magazine
AAMI 40th Anniversary Retrospective (PDF)
Biomedical & Clinical Engineering Professional Societies
- Association for the Advancement of Medical (AAMI)
- Dedicated to increasing the understanding, safety, and efficacy of medical instrumentation
- American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE)
- ACCE's mission is to establish competency standards for clinical engineering, promote the safe and effective application of technology in patient care, to enhance the body of knowlege on which clinical engineering is based, and otherwise represent the professional interests of its members.
- Clinical Engineering/IT Collaboration
- A collaborative effort of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI), the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the CE-IT community provides a united voice for IT and clinical engineering concerns and seeks to develop important resources, best practices, and networking opportunities to advance the interests of CE-IT issues in healthcare.
- Medical Equipment & Technology Association (META)
- A smaller organization for professionals that service and support equipment in the healthcare industry.
- Listing of State Biomedical Societies
- A listing of state societies for biomedical and clinical engineering maintained by AAMI.
- Other Related Professional Groups
- A listing of other, related professional societies maintained by the Engineering Education Service Center.
BiomedTalk-L Listserv
An essential networking tool for biomedical service or clinical engineering departments.
Biomedtalk-L is a Listserv that is used to discuss topics related to the biomedical technician and clinical engineer. Equipment problems, job opportunities, JCAHO discussions are discussed. The list has worldwide representation, as well as participants from organizations such as the FDA, ECRI, AAMI, Joint Commission, manufacturers, ISO's, hospital biomedical services departments and students. Anyone who has an interest in the Biomedical industry is welcome to join and the subscription fee is only $15.
Networking for Biomeds
Connect to other BMETs & clinical engineers on Linkedin.com
It's all about Who you know. Who you know can help you in your daily work, provide a way to answer perplexing questions, and provide career opportunities. You've likely already developed a good personal and professional network, and Linkedin.com can help you leverage those connections to your advantage.Linkedin.com has been called "MySpace for professionals" by Time Magazine. In particular, the "groups' feature on LinkedIn provides a place to connect with people you may already know and make new connections as well. Plus, Linkedin's "Answers" section provides another vehicle to ask question to collegues specifically in the field of clinical engineering. This is a great career tool worth investigating. Biomed related groups on Linkedin include:
Clinical Engineering
Clinical Engineering Management
Biomedical Magazines & Journals
Subscribe to these magazines to keep up-to-date with the biomed field & the latest developments in clinical engineering.
- 24 x 7 Magazine
- 24x7 offers educational information on technology, regulations, and industry trends, as well as managerial advice and professional profiles. 24x7 is the #1 source for news, business, and technical information in the medical service and support industry.
- Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology (BI&T)
- The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) publishes Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology (BI&T) a bi-monthly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the developers, managers, and users of medical instrumentation and technology.
- Medical Dealer Magazine
- Provides medical equipment, supplies and services information including current dealer listings and product news. Free subscription available to qualified biomedical professionals in the U.S.
Blog: The Biomed
Everything Biomed, Medical Equipment, Clinical Engineering
A blog sponsored by Healthcare Engineering Service Solutions, Inc. covering a broad range of biomedical equipment and clinical engineering topics.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBlog: 24 x 7
"Best practices" blog from 24 x 7 magazine (by the way, guys, 24 x 7 = 168)
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byFollowing 'Clinical Engineering' on Twitter
The latest tweets about clinical engineering
We stripped out most of the job postings because they're annoying, but you can click through to Twitter if you're BMET job hunting. If you know a hash code being consistently used by biomedical services or clinical engineering posts on Twitter drop us a note.
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- Elicialxb
- Journal of Clinical Engineering: This journal keeps hospital clinical engineers and biomedical equipment technic... http://t.co/oBq2RFQr
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- frsoft
- Read more about how TMS is a part of Parkland Hospital's innovative approach to Clinical Engineering. http://t.co/HjSBuC1c
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- hmioippoav
- 臨床工学技士法施行規則 http://t.co/9If9mmkF #Clinical #Engineering #engineer
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- RoboLade3000
- Starting a new band called "Drabbest Clinical Engineering". For fans of: Long Beach Dub Allstars, Sum 41, Peace Dogs.
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- JrnlClinEngin
- Most Popular: ACCE Clinical Engineering Certification Study Guide: No abstract available http://t.co/PAi9J586
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- medallionsearch
- Clinical Engineering Managers needed for tremendous company with 20 years of success and 30% growth rate this year. Nashville, Michigan
automatically generated by Twitter
Latest News about Clinical Engineering
Aggregated from news sources around the nation and world
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBiomedical Testing Equipment
Top vendors supplying equipment that biomedical technicians (BMETs) use.
- Fluke Biomedical
- The leading vendor for test equipment.
- BC Group International
- Sells test equipment and tools, plus offers calibration and repair services for most types and brands of general and biomedical-specific test equipment.
- Western Peaks Calibration Service
- Provides N.I.S.T. traceable calibrations as well as repair services in support of the biomedical industry.
Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) Vendors
If only these CMMS had voice recognition and spell check.
Managing a biomedical services department requires a good database system. Such systems are known as computerized maintenance management systems (See Wikipedia entry). This is a list of some of the top vendors in the market space:
- Four Rivers Software Systems
- Focuses on delivering comprehensive maintenance management software (EAM/CMMS) solutions to the healthcare industry. Serves healthcare plant and facilities and clinical engineering, as well as IS, environmental services, and ISOs.
- Harvest Data Systems
- Harvest products provide a variety of features to manage and maintain inventory. HarvestCEMS is built upon 20+ years of experience in the Biomedical Engineering industry with the requirements of JCAHO and regulatory agencies in mind. HarvestCEMS specializes in meeting the needs of ISO's and small to mid-sized facilities.
- AIMS
- AIMS has provided database software for more than 20 years. They now offer AIMS.NET, a Web-based Equipment Maintenance Software that runs on your server giving one acess to your AIMS database through your intranet or the Internet.
Books that Biomeds Read to their Children
Or grandchildren, if they own kids aren't guillible
Here are some great books for biomed families, or consider one of these titles for the next birthday of a biomed that you love and cherish (or just that you need a unique gift for!).
Biomed & Clinical Engineering Texts
Excellent resource books for your workshop's libary and manual shelf.
Biomedical Basics & Reference
Biomedical Instrumentation: Technology and Applications
Amazon Price: $90.29 (as of 02/13/2012)
This heavily illustrated resource details the fundamental principles of operation and the performance parameters of a wide variety of instruments, including:
Recording and monitoring instruments
Measurement and analysis techniques
Therapeutic equipment
Digital radiographic equipment
Nuclear medical imaging
Lithotriptors
Anesthesia machines
Ventilators
Radiotherapy equipment
Automated drug delivery systems
Schools for Biomedical Services
Pursue a career in biomed at one of these schools
- Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis
- The two year associates degree in Biomedical Engineering Technology at IUPUI can launch a career that makes a difference in the lives of people. This site describes the curriculum, distance learning options and tuition informaton. A Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering Technology is also available and is one of the few in the country.
- Schoolcraft College (PDF flyer)
- Schoolcraft's associate degree program in Biomedical Engineering Technology will enhance your natural skills and expand your knowledge so you can maintain and repair medical equipment in hospitals, labs, and industry. The program at Schoolcraft's Livonia, Michigan campus offers two years of coursework plus two semesters of internships that let ou apply what you've learned.
- Department of Defense Biomedical Equipment Technician Training School
- Many BMETs receive their training through military exprience. The Department of Defense's BMET school is a partnership with Aims Community College leading to an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) Degree with an emphasis in Biomedical Electronic Technology.
- Planning a Career in Biomed
- This page gives an overview of the careers within the broad and often interrelated field of biomedical engineering -- from hospital-based biomedical services, to clinical enginering and advanced specialty fields like biomaterials or rehabilitation engineering.
Become a Biomedical Technician
Biomedical Technician (Career Examination Passbooks)
Amazon Price: $34.95 (as of 02/13/2012)
A test preparation book for biomedial technicians.
Schools for Imaging Technology
Places to get advanced training in the rapidly expanding field of imaging technology.
- Radiological Services Training Institute (RSTI)
- RSTI Training Center is located in Solon, OH and has been providing third party support and OEM Training for more than 20 years. With a selection of over 30 courses each year, RSTI has trained over 10,000 service professionals from over 30 different countries in radiology, mammography, CT, ultrasound, networking, PACS, and DICOM.
- DITEC
- DITEC provides training to equip the service professional with the skills necessary to maintain today's Radiographic/Fluoroscopic systems. Each course includes integrated lectures, labs and documentation. The latter consists of theory, block diagrams, logic diagrams, flow charts and a lab book. All instructors are Certified Radiology Equipment Specialists (CRES) by the International Certification Commission.
Certifications within Biomedical Services
Biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) and imaging technicians can pursue these advanced certifications:
CBET - Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician
CLES - Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist
CRES - Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist
More information about these certifications is available on the AAMI Web site.
CBET - Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician
CLES - Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist
CRES - Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist
More information about these certifications is available on the AAMI Web site.
Become a Better Biomed Manager
Becoming a better person takes prayer and hard work, but becoming a better biomed manager is (somewhat) easier, thanks to "Manager Tools," a free podcast and Web site focusing on the practical aspects of becoming a better manager. Hosted by consultants Mark Horstman and Michael Auzenne, Manager Tools is argueably the best business podcast on the Internet, having won numerous awards and consistently ranking at the top of business podcasts on sites like PodcastAlley.com.The biomed manager committed to improving their management skills can listen for free online, subscribe using their favorite podcatcher (like iTunes), or search, read and post to the active blog and online discussion forums at www.manager-tools.com. Manager Tools focuses on day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter skills to build positive working relationships, advance your career and be more productive in your interactions with staff and supervisors. There's no "leadership" mumbo jumbo and they distain fads like 360 feedback.
Start with the Basics
The best place to jump into Manager Tools is by listening to the basic set of podcasts related to the management trinity: one-on-ones, feedback, coaching and delegation (I know that's 4). To get a quick overview of what Manager Tools could do for you, jump over to the Manager Tools Fan Club page here on Squidoo. Apply what's taught through the Manager Tools podcast and website and you'll become a better biomed manager in less than 30 days -- and maybe even a better person.
Biomedical Services within Medical Missions
Biomedical Services provides a key role within medical missions and relief organizations worldwide. Biomedical technicians maintain, recommend and service equipment both in sending countries and on the field.
But even a more critical role is ensuring that the right medical equipment goes to the right situation with the right support. An onging problem within medical missions is the "Junk for Jesus" phenomenom where well-meaning organizations donate non-functioning, obsolete, or overly sophistocated equipment for use in third world countries. As you can imagine, the result is frustrating and doesn't serve either the recipients or the mission of the organizations involved.
A key organization setting standards and coordinating the appropriate donation and use of medical equipment is Technical Exchange for Christian Healthcare (TECH). The organization holds several conferences each year where member organizations and like-minded individuals gather to discuss current trends and needs within medical missions. More information is available at www.techmd.org or via the TECH Facebook group.
Hospital Biomed or Clinical Engineering Departments on the Web
Links to hospital departments worldwide
If you have a hospital biomedical services or clinical engineering department with a publicly accessible Web site, let us know using the comment area below and we'll include it in this list.
- University of Virgina Health System / Clinical Engineering Services
- Describes department with span of influence and expertise that crosses each professional and clinical discipline of the institution.
- Flinders Medical Centre / Clinical Engineering Group
- The Clinical Engineering Group provides technical support and management of equipment used for patient monitoring, measurement, or therapy throughout the Flinders Medical Centre campus.
- Duke University Health System / Clinical Engineering Department
- The Clinical Engineering department for the Duke University Health System (DUHS) is responsible for testing, repairing, and maintaining in proper and safe operating condition, the hospital?s diagnostic and therapeutic equipment.
Biomedical Services & Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week
Biomedical Services and Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week is celebrated each year in May. The week is sponsored by AAMI's Technology Management Council.
Example proclamation you could adapt for state or local government usage.
Case study of how Thomas Citak of Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in Providence, RI, used Clinical Engineering Week as part of his staff recruitment efforts.
Example proclamation you could adapt for state or local government usage.
Case study of how Thomas Citak of Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in Providence, RI, used Clinical Engineering Week as part of his staff recruitment efforts.
Biomedical Gift Items
Even biomed techs have birthdays, anniversaries and so forth!
BMET Oval Sticker
Tired of those vanity license plates for RNs and PTs you see in the parking lot? Put one of these on your bumper to show your BMET pride. Better yet, buy 'em as thank you gifts for your staff since they're cheaper than a decent gift (you cheapskate!) .
Price:
Golf Shirt
Word "Biomed" with decorative red effect. Looks good with blue Dockers. Show the world you can repair a scope without getting anything except your hands dirty. Also great for the golf course.
Price:
Eat Sleep Biomedical Engineering Light T-Shirt
A great shirt to throw on when you get called in after midnight. Or a thank you gift to the tech who's covered call for two holidays in a row (or was it three?).
Price:
Biomedical Engineering Love Light T-Shirt
Even biomeds are soft and squishy on the inside. Or so I've been told. Just the colorful word "Love" with a heartbeat inside the letter "O." Consider for a wedding or engagement gift.
Price:
Navy BMET Gifts
Descriptive Biomedical Engineer White T-Shirt
If the Army or Air Force had cool BMET stuff, we'd list it, but Duh. This spiffy Tee says "United States Navy Biomedical Engineering Technician" around the ensignia.
Price:
Navy BMET Dark T-Shirt
Same ensignia as above, but in a slimming black color. Honey, does this shirt make me look fat? (I've got a question too, Sweetheart. Do I look stupid?).
Price:
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UKGhostwriter
Jun 1, 2011 @ 11:26 am | delete
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alicestewart87
Mar 11, 2011 @ 4:13 am | delete
- With the health reforms focusing more on technology, the importance of biomedical engineers has increased manifold. Great lens and useful information on technologies used in administering medical services.
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theneedmachine
Nov 8, 2010 @ 9:42 am | delete
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Nov 2, 2010 @ 2:13 am | delete
- I think that you have provide good information.
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WebService
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Paperback edition by Forrest Mims III
Getting Started in Electronics
Amazon Price: $19.69 (as of 02/13/2012)
This is a complete electronics course in 128 pages! Author Forrest Mims teaches you the basics, takes you on a tour of analog and digital components, explains how they work, and shows you how they are combines for various applications. Includes circuit assembly tips and 100 electronic circuits and projects you can build and test.
Clinical Engineering Handbook
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Clinical Engineering Handbook (Biomedical Engineering)
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The world's first comprehensive reference for technology best practice and future prospects in clinical engineering with a fully international perspective.
