"There is always a high volume of work," one survey respondent said. "Hospitals steadily climb in size and equipment count, but staffing can be slow to follow."

"I teach biomed classes at the local community college and, this year, we will only graduate three students," another commenter revealed. "This won't replenish the aging workforce that is retiring."


AAMI's demographic survey revealed that on average, the surveyed healthcare systems have just under 1,500 medical devices per BMET, leading to more than 1,700 total work orders per BMET every year.

Graph visualizing the the average annual work load per U.S. BMET across 71 surveyed healthcare organizations.Graph visualizing the the average annual work load per U.S. BMET across 71 surveyed healthcare organizations.

Steps Towards a Better Workplace
AAMI's new BMET Apprenticeship program, approved by the U.S. Department of Labor and co-designed by McGeary and 2021 AAMI & GE Healthcare BMET of the Year Maggie Berkey, is a step towards addressing this problem. However, it will take the support of proactive organizations such as those who participated in AAMI's demographic survey to pave this freshly blazed trail for prospective HTM professionals.

The U.S. military is also making strides towards creating HTM career opportunities for service members. The U.S. Army, for instance, offers 10 weeks of basic HTM training, 41 weeks of advanced individual training, and the support to pursue 20 relevant certifications. This career path is open not only to active-duty members, but Army reserve and the U.S. National Guard as well. The result? Of the 7,037 HTM professionals AAMI surveyed, nearly 38% reported being military veterans.

Still, consultant Reginald Burrus, a U.S. Army retiree with three decades of experience in HTM, said that it was only in recent years that women are being recruited for military BMET positions.

"Both the Army and the technical fields are very male dominated," he explained during AAMI's diversity roundtable. "It's important to have the conversations about the tough topics" about where your organization is lacking and recognize that diversity is critical to having a "functioning team."

Getting the Work Done
What else helps a team function at its best? Continued learning. A more positive revelation from AAMI's new survey is that once hired, employees are encouraged to expand their repertoire of HTM knowledge.

While only 19.7% of the organizations surveyed reported requiring their HTM professionals to be certified, nearly 80% incentivized certification with 70% reimbursing certification costs. As for strong incentives, 40% of the organizations reported granting a raise or bonus for a new certification, while 20% promote HTM professionals for obtaining the right certifications.

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