TMC Corner

Abstract

AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC) has created three new listservs, enabling AAMI members to ask each other questions on specific topics, discuss issues, network, and stay up-to-date on key issues. The new listservs focus on educational issues, topics affecting leaders of local and state biomedical associations, and a variety of other technology management issues.The listservs, which are being launched this fall, bring to five the number of AAMI's online discussion groups. Two other discussion groups, launched over the last year, are focused on quality systems and Joint Commission issues. All AAMI members can join any of the discussion groups. The three new groups are:To join a discussion group, visit www.aami.org/marketplace, log in as a member, click “e-forums” in the left column, and follow the instructionsAfter 14 years of offering guidance to young men through the Boy Scouts of America, Colt Rhoads is applying the skills he's learned to his own profession.“The Boy Scouts help to develop young men into good citizens and leaders,” says Rhoads, a safety officer/biomedical engineering manager for Western Medical Center in California. “It was time to do something similar in my own field. After 28 years in the business, I hope to have something important to teach.”Rhoads is one of several AAMI members to recently become new mentors under AAMI's mentorship program, which was launched in 2008 by AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC). The program is expanding this year to offer the service to more AAMI members who are interested in either becoming a mentor or finding one.The program pairs AAMI members who are looking for guidance in particular interest areas with those who have expertise on topics such as budgeting, dialysis, and equipment maintenance. “I would like to teach that biomedical/clinical engineering is a living, evolving field,” says mentor Joe Lewandowski, CCE, assistant director of biomedical engineering at Abington Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania.The mentors and their protégés generally spend about an hour or two a month meeting in person, over the phone, or via e-mail, but the number and duration of meetings can vary depending on the pairing.Any AAMI member can join the AAMI Mentorship Program. If you are interested in participating, visit www.aami.org/tmcconnect.AAMI's Technology Management Council (TMC) could play a constructive role in helping to improve the interaction and information-sharing between biomeds and manufacturers, according to the results of a recently released survey.More than 75% of biomedical equipment technicians and clinical engineers who took part in the AAMI survey said it would be very helpful for the TMC to strengthen their relationships with manufacturers.The survey was conducted to determine what priorities exist among biomeds, and what potential projects the TMC could undertake in the future. Other potential new projects that rated highly included:The survey results provide TMC members with a road map to determine what future projects to tackle. To strengthen relationships between biomeds and manufacturers, the TMC will be “looking at existing resources, such as listservs, as well as brainstorming new ideas to drive greater value for both BMETs/clinical engineers and medical device manufacturers,” says Carol Davis- Smith, chair of the TMC and a director at Premier Inc.AAMI will also publish its next employment survey in early 2010. The survey is an important tool for biomeds to justify salary increases and benchmark other employment benefits, says Ray Laxton, a member of the TMC's Executive Committee and vice president of clinical technology services operations for ARAMARK Clinical Technology Services.The TMC survey—administered by the nationally recognized firm Westat—was conducted on the 5th anniversary of the TMC.