What Military and Civilian Biomeds Can Learn From Each Other

Abstract

The on-the-job experience of military and civilian biomeds can be worlds apart, literally. Supporting equipment in a combat zone or on a ship is just not the same as going to work at a comfortable, safe civilian hospital. And yet, most of the functions that military biomeds must perform mirror those of their civilian counterparts. What lessons can civilian biomeds take from the experiences of their military colleagues? And what are the challenges that former military biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) face in making the transition to civilian hospitals? There has been much written and debated about the merits of military versus civilian BMET training, but in reality all BMETs are trained and begin their careers on relatively equal footing. “Civilian and military BMET training programs are essentially equivalent,” says Michael E. Carver, who recently retired after 22 years in the Air Force clinical engineering program and another 16 years in ARAMARK’s clinical technologies division. He says that the greatest difference between the two “lies in the scope of equipment systems covered.” Because military BMETs are ultimately trained to function as the sole support for clinical equipment during situations of confl ict, even if they never actually serve in a combat zone, they are trained to service the full spectrum of essential medical equipment. The differences in training are deliberate—a military BMET in combat or at sea has a very specifi c list of equipment that he or she must be able to fi x without outside support, while by contrast a BMET in the private sector What Military and Civilian Biomeds Can Learn From Each Other