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Service training veteran RSTI celebrates 30 years of imaging education

by Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | July 07, 2015
Business Affairs Medical Devices
It is unusual in the parts and service industry for a company to stick around for decades of service, but the Radiological Service Training Institute (RSTI) has been supporting the education of service engineers since 1985.

DOTmed News reached out to the company to find out what it credits its success to, and what the future holds.

Based in Solon, OH, just outside Cleveland, RSTI was founded by Terrence M. Speth, who originally performed all administrative functions — including maintenance of documentation and class records — out of the basement of his home. Since those modest beginnings, the company has trained over 15,000 service professionals from around the world in radiology, mammography, CT, ultrasound, networking, PACS and DICOM.

Dale Cover, the president of the company, has witnessed most of that growth firsthand. He started in an entry-level capacity about 26 years ago. "I was in the back just helping the students as a lab assistant," he told DOTmed News. Over the years, Cover moved up the ranks until taking his current position in January.

At present, RSTI offers over 35 courses per year and features a training facility with over 24 diagnostic imaging rooms within its 30,000 square-foot headquarters. He credits the success of the company to continually keeping a finger on the pulse of the market. Surveys are conducted to figure out how the students need to be trained and how classes can be curated to meet their needs.

Cover said most students arrive with an associate's degree, or comparable education in electronics, and are first taken through basic X-ray instructions, which become increasingly advanced as they move through a series of phases.

"Once you have that solid foundation of understanding you can apply it to anything, and as new things come out you're not looking back and thinking you missed something," said Cover, "Instead, our students are saying, 'Oh, I see what they've added here.'"

Over the years, Cover said he has saved several hospitals from making unnecessary investments due to misdiagnosed problems with their equipment. For hospitals looking to hire service providers outside of the OEM, he recommends getting a decent understanding of the company's safety net before contracting with them.

"If I was unsure of their skill level, I would want to ask them what their backup plans are. If they're stumped, you can't just be left high and dry. What will they do to get you back up and running if they can't handle the work themselves?"

RSTI will be having a 30th anniversary party in conjunction with the MD Imaging Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana, later in July. Cover acknowledged that although the landscape for service training has changed drastically since the company opened for business, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"When the OEMs had everything on their back they could charge whatever they wanted, but now they have to stay competitive. From that standpoint we will continue to play that role in the market and if there are not sufficient support services out there, and we can create that support to help our students succeed — we're going to do it," said Cover.

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