Astroll through the self-help section of any bookstore will make one thing clear: There are a lot of people who believe they can make your life better. Whether or not one approach is better than the next is questionable, but the sheer range of approaches is staggering. The self-help section on Amazon includes approximately 174,262 books on the topic. Clearly, there are many people who believe they have the answer.

Improving one’s career includes many potential pathways. Some are prescribed and some are more proactive. Many of these methods are commonly known and many others aren’t. Most experts agree that showing initiative, helping with training, finding a mentor, requesting more responsibility, continuing your education and finding ways to save your employer money are all good for your career. It’s not enough to have a plan, though. You must learn to put it into action.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

It’s been said that success lies at the intersection of preparation and opportunity. Opportunities may present themselves at any time, so it stands to reason that preparation is a worthy pursuit. To that end, education is always a pursuit that adds to an individual’s total package. It can be as much a personal pursuit as a career-advancement tool.

Duane Hart, BS, CBET, Service Manager at Clinical Engineering Services at the Ohio State Medical Center may be in the right place for academic inspiration. Hart already holds a four-year degree and is currently pursuing an MA in Public Affairs and Public Administration. “The academic path may seem odd for a man of science,” he says. “However, the vast majority of U.S. hospitals are non-profit, not-for-profit or governmental. This degree is the capstone of four decades in the classroom and does have positive impact potential for my next level goal in leadership for health care technology advocacy, as well as providing a new set of tools to improve my current vocational performance.”

Even for a man like Hart, who is in a management position at a leading hospital, “Education, experience and travel are foundation stones which stand time’s test for positive outcomes both personally and professionally.”

Biomeds who traveled to the 2011 MD Expo in Orlando completed a questionnaire soliciting their comments about career steps they took during the year and anticipated career goals for the coming year. The answers highlighted the emphasis placed on conferences, symposiums, networking and coursework as priorities.

Some of the respondents even planned to develop their own teaching tools in the coming year. Clearly, the willingness to share knowledge is a constant in the profession.

Jerry Braho, a biomed who attended the MD Expo, said that conference attendance, specifically the Expo and AAMI 2011, allowed him to meet “several industry legends and leaders.”

Raffy Ballemilla, CBET, said regular attendance at symposiums and networking with industry leaders were two of his chosen methods for career growth in 2011. Next year, he plans to teach a course at a symposium and solicit advice from someone who has done the same.

Biomed students have much to gain from conference attendance and networking opportunities. That fact was not lost on biomed student Sean Brunelle, who attended the Expo to keep up with current events, obtain information and make contacts. Brunelle was preparing to begin sending out resumes with the goal of landing a job next year.

ATTEND A CONFERENCE

Some attendees at the MD Expo also spoke with TechNation about their career advancement endeavors. Rich Johnson, RN, CBET, of Southeast Medical Systems in Atlanta, took training courses during the year to help his facility do more equipment maintenance inhouse. Johnson estimates that the training in injector servicing will save his institution $35,000 to $40,000 annually.

Larry Robert, team lead in the Clinical Engineering Services department at Morton Plant Mease Baycare Health System, found that attending conferences and being active in his association were good methods towards furthering your career. Robert was recently elected president of the Bay Area Association of Medical Instrumentation, a local chapter of the Florida Biomedical Society.

As many biomeds find, any assembly of biomed professionals offers opportunities for networking and making new contacts. Robert sees this as a benefit of attending an event like the MD Expo. For the coming year, he has set a goal to become a member of the management team at Morton Plant Mease. To achieve this goal, he plans to earn an M.B.A., continue networking and “create opportunities” for himself.

Alfredo Feliciano, President of BMET Corp. in Puerto Rico, wants to bring the benefits of association membership to other biomeds in Puerto Rico. His number one goal for 2012 is to start a biomed association in Puerto Rico. He plans to first join a U.S. association and get his CBET certification.

Attending classes at conferences is a favorite conduit to learning for Bob McElroy, a biomed at Baker Clinical Engineering Services at St. Joseph’s-Baptist Health Care in Tampa. “Every year in a biomed’s life, there are things that increase your opportunity to become better in your profession.” McElroy points out that coursework in topics like personnel management are useful. “Bottom line, you want to increase the safety of the equipment used on the patients because God knows, that patient might be you next time.”

Jeff Johnson, a biomed at SE Medical in Fayetteville, Ga., used to drive an ambulance. “Working with a lot of the different facilities that [I went to] to as an ambulance driver is a whole lot different than getting to work in the facility,” he says.

Many people who are seasoned professionals in other vocations make the jump to the biomedical profession. After 40 years in the mesh wire industry, Pete Pfeuffer decided that biomed looked good. He is attending the School of Aparicio-Levy Technical Center, in the Biomedical Technician program, to start a biomed career.

The networking theme seemed to permeate many of the comments about accomplishing career goals. Opportunities to interact with others in the biomed profession were a key component in the minds of many who attend shows and conferences and association meetings.

Ron Tinckham, M.S. Ed., Professor and Coordinator of Biomedical Engineering Technology at Santa Fe College in Alachua, Fla., furthered his career in 2011 by attending conferences and reviewing textbooks, which helped him make new contacts in the field and stay abreast of new concepts. Tinckham’s plans for the coming year include a revision of the biomed program at Santa Fe College. He plans to “meet with my advisory committee and other departments at the college” to discuss potential updates.

LEARN FROM OTHERS

The TechNation staff also took a look back at what some of our recent Professionals of the Month did last year to further their careers. This retrospective is a summary of the collective knowledge that can be gleaned from those profile stories.

Tech Sergeant Martin Castillo, CBET, USAF was Professional of the Month in April. At that time, he was working on his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering Technology, with plans to work on a Master’s degree after that.

Castillo embraces the Air Force’s “whole person concept.” The whole person concept accounts for what an airman has done to better the lives of those around him or her, including the person’s contributions to the base and community, as well as self-improvement efforts. As many experts suggest, Castillo has continually praised his counterparts and superiors. “These accomplishments would not have been possible unless I had great leadership around me, as well as some great BMETs that I work with on a daily basis,” he said.

The October Professional of the Month, Dennis Duck, CBET, told us; “I continue to look at what I can do to improve what I do to be a better person, technician and contributing member to my biomed team.” Duck stepped outside his regular duties to present a lecture on successful job interviewing at a biomedical workshop. He was recognized with an award for the extra effort.

In July, the Professional of the Month was Daniel Frazier, a civilian biomed at David Grant USAF Medical Center on the Travis Air Force base. Frazier worked to maintain the traits he learned as a member of the U.S. Navy, an effort that impressed his supervisor, Senior Master Sgt. Joaquin Gonzalez.

“He has the core values that the military instills,” Gonzalez said. “He knows how to take care of people, not only on duty, but when they’re off duty also. [When] people deploy, he’s one of the ones to make sure that if their spouses have any issues with vehicles or things like that, he calls and offers any help.”

There is a lesson in what Gonzalez said: It’s not just what you do on the clock that defines your professional image.

The May issue found a familiar person in the Professional of the Month spotlight. It was one of our own professional columnists, Pat Lynch. A mentor and friend to many in the biomed community, Lynch knows a thing or two about advancing your career, both on a firsthand basis as a longtime biomed and from interacting with biomeds across the country through his extensive travels.

One example of Lynch’s own ability to get ahead could be found early in his career. He became the Director of Clinical Engineering at Charlotte Memorial Hospital at age 26. He went on to become Sun Health’s first director of operation support, as well as the North Carolina Biomedical Association’s first president. In his long career, Lynch has been the Regional Director for seven Southeastern states for Sun Health and Director of Biomedical Engineering at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

To put an exclamation mark on that storied career, Lynch has more recently spent many years helping other biomeds advance their own careers. This has brought his career to a place that he likes, Lynch says.

But he’s not through yet. “It became my goal to take the accumulated information of this profession, set it down in writing somewhere so that it can form some sort of body of knowledge that other people can look at, can figure out and learn from, and not have to expend a lot of their mental horsepower doing the same things that have already been figured out.” Find Lynch’s writing in TechNation’s Expert Advice section and at www.gmi3.com.

In March, TechNation profiled Jody Marz, CBET, a biomed manager at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center in Washington State. He said the physicians at Wenatchee appreciated his efforts to bring the hospital’s biomed department in-house for significant savings on equipment maintenance and repair.

Don’t define what you could be tomorrow by where you are today. That could be the theme of our June Professional of the Month, who is quite possibly the ultimate example of career advancement. Andrew Zumaran, CBET, was a laborer, warehouse worker and kiln operator in 1982. Working at a chemical plant, he befriended a plant engineer who saw Zumaran’s potential, taught him about programming and encouraged him to pursue a degree.

After receiving his associate’s degree, Zumaran pursued an internship in 1990 and was hired by Stanford University Medical Center’s Clinical Technology and Biomedical Engineering department in 1991. Over the years, he worked as a junior biomed, senior biomed CBET and lead biomed. Today he is department manager.