Empowering the Biomedical/CE Professional
Veterans and the Job Market
What do the following words have in common: Terror, 68-Alpha, terrorist, ammunition, enemy, war, destroy? Each of them has something to do with armed conflict. These are also words that occasionally appear on resumes that I get from veterans who have typically been recently discharged from the armed services. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of veterans in the field of clinical engineering. We come through a number of career paths and specialties fields eventually find our way into this industry – working at a hospital, in field service, or in my case, in an office. This column can serve two...
What I did during my summer of 2011
I am sure there has been at least one time that you have written a paper for grade school that was titled what I did for my summer vacation. Well, here is mine from 2011. It was a very different summer than previous years. Normally classes are finished around the first week of May, exams are graded, final grades are submitted and my biomedical engineering technology students are just starting their internships. This is my vacation time; time to relax. Time to update course content, prepare for accreditation visits and get caught up on all of the paperwork that has...
110 Percent
There is no such thing as giving 110 percent. There, I said it, and I believe it. Let me explain what is meant when someone says that he is giving 110 percent. You see, most people operate and hover at around 60 percent-70 percent of effort. So when this very hard working individual ramps it up to 110 percent, he is now hovering between 66 percent and 77 percent. He is still slacking off at least 34 percent of the time! Now smooth your feathers. If it doesn’t apply to you, just turn the page. Ok, he has moved onto...
How they work
Contracts are legal documents between two parties. they are legally binding unless they break some law (for example, you cannot have a legal contract to buy illegal drugs). A contract specifies that each of the two parties will do something for the other. This is an important part of the contract – that each party promises to do some- thing for the other. This is why you sometimes see someone selling a car for $1 rather than just giving it. There are several important parts of a typical service contract to understand. The first part of a contract identifies who...
Capital Equipment Replacement Calculator
PROBLEM: Capital spending by healthcare organizations over the past several years continues to be difficult due to economic conditions, reduced funding sources and costs of new equipment. Healthcare administrators must make informed and intelligent decisions on how to spend these limited resources. Their decisions must be guided from experts in respective areas, based upon factual and analyzed data. Clinical engineering directors, working hand in hand with clinical departments, can be that expert to make critical recommendations on when, which and how much funds are necessary to replace medical devices. The question is the raised, how does a clinical engineering director...
My MD Expo
The October MD Expo in Orlando was a great success. The MD Publishing staff continues to provide the best industry conference each year. I am amazed how they make each one better than the last. A great venue, educational seminars, industry vendor exhibits, networking opportunities and a fun environment make for the premier event in the health care industry. This year, MD Expo honored some industry professionals with well-deserved awards for their contributions to the industry and the profession. They also presented me with an award. The Department of the Year award was presented to the Biomedical Services Department of...
Free Isn't Free
There are a lot of companies who seem to be giving away a lot of “free” goods and services and information. But are they really free? The nature of business (whether not-for-profit or a regular corporation) is that they must take in more money than they spend. That is, if they want to stay in business next year or the year after. And we all know that you have to spend money to make money. Companies spend money hiring people, developing products, building products, buying stock that they can later sell, putting in accounting and billing systems, advertising, promotions and...
It’s Time for a Second Opinion
Wow, it’s December. I had an excuse for missing most of 2010, but what happened to 2011? I remember sitting in the lobby of a condo in Florida about this time two years ago. I was listening to the song “Free Will” and considering the deeper meaning of the term ‘opportunity cost,’ triggered by the fact that I was inside doing homework instead of sitting out at the pool. It seems such a short time ago. I guess this past year should prove to me that it is true, time flies when you’re having fun. As I look back, it...
The network onion top layer
I’ve written about the importance of networking in the organizational introduction sense, so now I’m turning to the importance of understanding the networking technology that has become vital to successful clinical device operations. The network, big or small, provides the necessary infrastructure to exchange data and while big networks usually correspond with more IT staff, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll give any more attention or expertise to clinical engineering operations. Conversely, a small network doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy to configure or operate. Either way, it’s extremely important for CEs to take the time to understand and cooperate...
My paint by numbers days
I remember as a boy when I received my first paint-by-numbers kit. For a while, I was encouraged that if I went by the numbers I could actually create something to give to my mother. However, none of the many paintings ever made it to the family wall or refrigerator door already populated with original creations made by a mother’s child. Apparently, a paint-by-numbers masterpiece was less significant than stick figures and landscapes that came from the forming mind of a child. After a couple of years I began to experiment by mixing colors to come up with a kind...
