Working Outside the Hospital Presents New Opportunities

Abstract

A s a student preparing for a job in medical technology, you may envision a career working inside a hospital. However, many have chosen alternative paths that they have found both challenging and rewarding. Take, for example, the four medical technology professionals profiled in this article, who made very different decisions. “When I left college, I never imagined the career path I’d take,” says Elliot Sloane, PhD. As a college professor and advisor to hospitals and agencies, Sloane has been able to weave two career paths together. He currently splits his time equally between Villanova University, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Decision and Information Technology; and as a consultant, helping hospitals around the globe decide what equipment to purchase, as well as investigating accidents and deaths, and improving standards. Brian Poplin, CHE, CBET, has worked inside hospitals, for a major corporation, and as a member of a hospital’s board of trustees. After four years as a BMET in the Air Force, Poplin worked his way up the career ladder at ServiceMaster (and its successor company, ARAMARK). He is currently the vice president of strategic development for ARAMARK’s Healthcare Management Services, providing clinical engineering management to healthcare facilities nationwide. For Nancy Pressly, she began her career with the FDA 18 years ago when she was hired as a biomedical engineer just out of college. She liked it, stayed, and today is a policy analyst at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), bringing an engineer’s perspective to solving problems associated with medical device adverse events. As a healthcare engineering consultant, Tom O’Dea, PhD, PE, CCE, works with developers of medical devices. “I help them establish a theoretical framework, write an article for the technical literature, help create a prototype, and work with a patent lawyer,” he says. Education is Key Although the four took very different career paths, all agree that education is vital to success. Poplin, for example, finished his education while working full-time, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in business management, “because I wanted the advancement,” he says. He is also board certified in healthcare management by the American College of Healthcare Executives, another component he felt was important in moving his career forward.