by
Christina Hwang, Contributing Reporter | May 18, 2016
From the May 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
If someone truly understands that what they are doing does have a direct link to patient care and that they are truly impacting the care we give our patients, that will drive them to take pride in the quality of their work and be engaged in developing their skills. After you hire for attitude, then you can develop the other required skills necessary to be a good biomed: mechanical; electrical; IT; project management; troubleshooting; and customer service skills.
Joseph Kaminski:No. 1 is being objective. You always have to make sure, when you deliver service, that you put the patient first, and you are supporting the people who do the delivery of that patient’s care. By being objective, you should not be vendor-specific. You are outsourcing, trying to buy the best-in-class solutions for the organization you are working for.
Russ Magoon:I think biomeds need to be willing to speak up when they don’t understand a piece of equipment and get input from other technicians. There is too much equipment for one person to be an expert on everything. Put the ego aside and get assistance when needed. It’s a team effort to support the users to help the patients. I don’t believe there is one value that is most important, but you have to know that your work impacts people’s health. Be a team player.
Courtney Nanney:Patient safety is extremely important for biomeds. But there also has to be the willingness to continuously learn and share your knowledge. By sharing our mistakes and close calls, we can prevent patient injuries. A biomed should have good communication skills and work well as part of a team. We have to be able to speak two languages (medical and technical). I joke that when you are with technical people, you talk medical. When you are with medical people, you talk technical. Folks will think you are smart. In reality, you never know enough technology or medicine.
HCB News: What can you offer as an HTM that third parties or OEMs cannot?
Gary Barkov: We offer “heart,” commitment and financial returns. I do believe that everyone, whether OEM, in-house or third party, has a safety focus in mind. This is vital. But I feel an in-house person will definitely take that to heart the most. Also, one’s loyalties will always be to the person signing their paycheck. While we are definitely motivated to do what is safe and what is right for the organization, the added benefit is that any savings an in-house department makes goes right back to the hospital they’re working for. Because of that, there’s no conflict of interest in terms of trying to make profit targets versus giving the best value to the customer.
