Biomedical equipment technicians and clinical engineering professionals will be formally recognized this summer with a national week of appreciation in honor of their unique contributions to healthcare. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation's (AAMI) Technology Management Council (TMC) has approved a resolution proclaiming June 16-23, 2007, as National Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week.

"State and local biomedical societies have been proclaiming 'biomed weeks' and similar recognitions in their communities for years," says Ray Laxton, TMC chair and vice president of operations with ARAMARK Healthcare. "This time, we're all coming together with a single voice to recognize all of those responsible for managing and maintaining medical technology equipment."

The proclamation states in part that "the complexity of medical technology...makes it essential that those individuals responsible for the care, safety, and accuracy of this equipment are recognized as an invaluable resource to the healthcare industry."
"These professionals research, recommend, install, inspect, and repair medical devices and other complicated medical systems, as well as advise and train others concerning the safe and effective use of medical devices, thereby controlling healthcare costs and improving patient safety," it states.

The proclamation "gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the talents of the professionals who ensure medical equipment safety and efficiency," says David Francoeur, CBET, vice president of service operations for TriMedx and a member of the TMC executive committee. "Clinical and biomedical engineering should be recognized as a key component of quality healthcare."

Steve Yelton, TMC member and chairman of electrical engineering technologies at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, maintains that the proclamation "will be a great boost to the efforts that the TMC has already made in promoting the biomedical and clinical engineering field."

Formed in 2004, the TMC represents technology managers from hospitals, biomedical societies, and industry. The inaugural National Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week proclamation is the one of the most recent projects the group has tackled to help advance the interests of biomedical equipment technicians, clinical engineers, and other medical technology professionals.

The TMC has also created several new services for local biomed societies, increased AAMI members' access to The Joint Commission, and developed a number of important career and IT-related resources and publications.

To download a copy of the proclamation and to obtain more information about the TMC and its achievements, visit the TMC section of AAMI's website at www.aami.org/tmc.

More Voices