By K. Richard Douglas
“James has demonstrated exceptional leadership, dedication, and a commitment to excellence that has significantly impacted our team and organization,” is one sentence from the nomination for this Professional of the Month; a professional who had been nominated and recognized in the past as well.
James Swandol, MBA, CBET, CHTM, is a manager II in the Healthcare Technology Management Department at Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
TechNation previously highlighted Swandol’s achievements in 2017. Since then, he has also contributed to TechNation cover stories.
For all of his success as a biomed and manager, Swandol did not plan that career initially.
“I fell into the biomed field by luck. After the Army, I was working as a personal trainer, things started out great but as the economy began to turn, I started losing clients and decided it was time to pursue a degree. I began going to school for electronics and computer technology and was recruited by a third-party company to work on anesthesia machines upon graduation,” he says.
After graduating with his AAS in electronics and computer technology, he went through Draeger’s Fundamentals of Anesthesia, training on the entire Narkomed series, Apollo and Fabius machines.
“After finishing training at Draeger, I went to GE Healthcare and received training on the Aespire and Advance machines,” Swandol says.
Swandol started out his career as an anesthesia service technician, moving up to lead anesthesia service technician and then a field service technician, operations manager, BMET II, senior BMET, manager and then manager II. He has also served on the board of directors (member) of the Veterans Center of North Texas and is on the board of directors (Secretary) of the Healthcare Technology Management Association-North Texas.
Success for Everyone
After a lengthy career in HTM, with varied experiences and positions, it should come as no surprise that Swandol has been involved in many projects.
“I have been on projects to open a hospital, close a hospital and selling a hospital. I been involved with projects to move central monitoring units, department expansions, department relocates, department refreshes, new installs, and upgrades of equipment just to list a few,” he says.
Swandol says that most of his weekly meetings revolve around projects.
“With all the project work I do as a manager, I wanted to get some more insight into projects and process improvements, so I recently completed a graduate certificate in Six Sigma black belt. The program was very interesting and gave me a much better understanding of how projects work. It helped me understand why we do things the way we do. I found that I enjoy writing project charters and being able to help develop the big picture of a project,” he says.
On the home front, Swandol says he has an amazing, blended family.
“We enjoy hanging out by the pool, playing basketball in the driveway and going to all their games all year long. My wife is a nurse manager; we both work for Baylor Scott and White. We both push one another to succeed and are currently striving to reach director level. I finished up my MBA a couple years ago with her support and she is currently working to finish her MSN degree and plans to pursue her DNP soon after,” Swandol says.
He has a son who is 14, two daughters who are 12 and 6 and a stepson who is almost 14.
“I have been coaching youth sports since 2014. I have enjoyed being able to coach all of my kids at some point and time. I’ve coached baseball, basketball, flag football and soccer. I enjoy coaching for a couple reasons; first, I get to spend time with my kids that they will remember and hopefully cherish. Second, the aha moment when a player finally understands something or being there when a 5-year-old scores their first soccer goal or when one of your players gets his first hit in a baseball game is priceless,” Swandol says.
Another pastime is working out; he says that his workouts are his stress relief.
“I lift weights six days a week. I am lucky to have a home gym and hit the weights as soon as I come home from work. What makes it even better is now that my son is 14 and interested in working out for school athletics; he joins me or I train him after I finish my workout,” Swandol says.
To know Swandol is to understand that his time in the military was important.
“I am a veteran of the United States Army. I served eight years and did two tours in Iraq. The military was the best thing for me and I grew up fast because of it; I was leading a team by the time I was 21 and leading troops in Iraq at 23. I was not a biomed in the Army, I was Transportation, and during my tours in Iraq, we hauled 5,000-gallon tankers of fuel all over the country to deliver fuel to the different bases. My time in Iraq had good days and bad days, but the relationships built with the men and women I deployed with has lasted a lifetime. My unit is still close and just had another reunion in remembrance of 20 years since our deployment to Iraq,” he says.
Swandol says that he wants others around him to succeed and he wants to inspire his technicians to not just meet their goals, but surpass them.
“I enjoy mentoring technicians into great leaders. Since being in management with HTM at BSWH, I have had two technicians get promoted to manager [and] six technicians pass the CBET exam. One of the things I enjoy doing the most is holding leadership mentor sessions with technicians who express interest in going into management. I go over what has worked for me and dive into the daily operations of an HTM manager so that they are prepared for their next step,” he says.
Swandol says to show his gratitude to his team for all their hard work every year, for HTM Week, he spoils the team.
“We start with training sessions on how to succeed, and later in the week we go to a local skeet shooting range, and end the week with a crawfish boil. It has become my tradition; we have been going to the skeet range for six years for HTM week and just had our third crawfish boil. It is always nice to have the team get together to blow off steam and enjoy each other’s company,” he says.
It’s little wonder why Swandol has been nominated for professional recognition twice. He has had a commitment to family, his country, his colleagues, his employer and his own self-development.
BIOMETRICS
Favorite book:
“The Progressive Hospital (A Lean Hope)” by Stephen Weller
Favorite movie:
“Deadpool”
Hidden talent:
I’ve been told I’m good at troubleshooting.
Favorite food:
Italian
Favorite part of being a biomed?
Helping my technicians succeed
