Inside AAMI

Abstract

The AAMI Board of Directors has approved the creation of The Michael J. Miller Scholarship Program to recognize the service and commitment of AAMI's retired president.The program will provide scholarships to students who are pursuing education to become biomedical equipment technicians or clinical engineers.In creating the scholarship fund, the AAMI Board also donated $50,000 to the AAMI Foundation as seed money to fund the program. This summer, a fundraising campaign will be launched to seek in private contributions in hopes of achieving a $500,000 goal.The scholarship fund not only recognizes Miller, who retired from AAMI after 40 years as president; but also seeks to address an important need to provide educational assistance to aspiring technicians and clinical engineers.You can make a tax-deductible donation to the scholarship fund by sending your donations to The AAMI Foundation, 1110 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 220, Arlington, VA 22201-4795. All contributors and amounts will be recognized in AAMI publications and on AAMI's website, unless you note that you prefer to remain anonymous.Miller was also awarded the prestigious AAMI Leadership and Achievement Award, which has only been given three times in AAMI's history. The award recognizes leaders who have made an extraordinary contribution to the growth of the association and medical technology. He was also awarded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Award for Excellence and Outstanding Leadership. The award also recognizes AAMI.AAMI has released the 2009 edition of its popular Clinical Engineering Collection to include new resources and guidance for navigating the medical technology field. The Clinical Engineering Collection is a CD compilation of AAMI's best-selling resources for clinical engineers, biomedical equipment technicians, and other medical technology professionals.New additions include:The new collection also includes ANSI/AAMI EQ56:1999/(A) 2008, Recommended practice for a medical equipment management program. This recommended practice was developed by medical technology experts, and defines the minimal components for creating an effective medical equipment management program.To order, call (877) 249-8226, or visit the Marketplace at http://marketplace.aami.org. List price: $615, member price $445 (order code CEC, source code PB).The editorial board of BI&T welcomed six new members at its recent meeting in Baltimore. They include:As board members, they will write and review articles, critique the journal, and develop content.AAMI is about to adopt and release a new technical information report (TIR) to help manufacturers and healthcare professionals comply with moist heat sterilization requirements.ISO TR/17665-2:2009, Sterilization of health care products—Moist heat—Part 2: Guidance on the application of ANSI/AAMI/ISO 17665-1, offers examples and guidance for complying with ANSI/AAMI/ISO 17665-1:2006, Sterilization of health care products—Moist Heat—Part 1: Requirements for the development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices.The new guidance document offers examples and acceptable methods for complying with the standard and is relevant to both healthcare workers and industrial manufacturers who use steam sterilization, says Donna Swenson, manager of central sterile processing at Resurrection West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, IL, and co-chair of the AAMI Industrial Moist Heat Sterilization Working Group, which developed the report.Among other things, the new TIR focuses on the different requirements in Europe and the United States for certain facets of moist heat sterilization—such as containerized products and saturated steam that uses hot air to sterilize instruments.To order, call (877) 249-8226, or visit the Marketplace at http://marketplace.aami.org. List price: $95, member price $50 (order code 1766502, source code PB).