Recently, I read an article from Gallup titled “The New Challenge of Engaging Younger Workers” from February 2024. This article explained that since March 2020, there has been a dramatic decline in engagement at work among younger generations. Per their study, “the younger group of millennial and Gen Z employees (born 1989 or later) have experienced a five-point decline in engagement.”
This trend has been happening for years, as another Gallup survey from 2019 mentioned that “only 29% of millennials are engaged at work, meaning only about three in 10 are emotionally and behaviorally connected to their job and company.”
Why is this happening? The article mentioned something that grabbed my attention: “This generation of workers, especially, is looking for an employer with a purpose they can identify with.”
What can be done to connect and engage the next generation in the HTM/biomed field?
This is something that should concern each one of us. We already know there is a need for new HTM professionals, as so many BMETS and field engineers who started working in our field in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s are retiring. Also, there are not many schools that offer biomedical engineering courses today when compared to previous decades.
We need to recognize that each one of us can do something to help, as we have a very important purpose in health care and in our communities that we can share with the newer generation. We contribute to the maintenance and improvement of devices that can diagnose, treat, and manage health conditions, directly enhancing patient care and saving lives.
What can you do to share your passion for your career as a BMET?
Look for opportunities to share your experience.
- You don’t need to be a teacher to talk to students. Many local middle & high schools enjoy having professionals talk about their careers during career fairs and similar activities. Can you volunteer to visit a local school, vocational or trade school? AAMI has plenty of printed material and resources that you can use to interest the students.
- Is there a local biomed engineering college near your area? Be a mentor! You can provide guidance, support and inspiration to the students already interested in our field.
- Are you a member of your local biomed/HTM association? If not, get involved! Your support helps the local association to spread the word in the community about our jobs.
- Familiarize with and use social media and online tools to reach the younger generations, as they are more receptive to the use of technology to learn. There are plenty of places online you can use to share success stories, breakthroughs, opportunities, thoughts, and suggestions: Lists, question-and-answer platforms (like Quora), Facebook groups, YouTube (if you want to share videos), etc. Recently there has been an increase of BMET/HTM-related channels online, podcasts, motivational videos, etc. Follow them, subscribe and volunteer to be interviewed on any of these channels if you can!
- Write articles for your favorite HTM magazine.
Be positive about our field when you talk to the younger generations!
- Think about the aspects that make HTM a great career path and share them. For example:
- Everyone involved in the HTM field has the privilege to work in health care, so job security is almost guaranteed. (Even during COVID, we were always busy taking care of the medical devices without interruption).
- The HTM field has tremendous growth potential: Reportlinker.com predicts a “compound annual growth rate of 15.5% through 2026.”
- We work with cutting-edge technology that evolves rapidly. There are constant opportunities to familiarize and learn about new medical devices and new technology.
- We are helping the community by keeping life-saving medical devices in optimal performance to take care of their health needs.
- We never get bored at work!
- Emphasize the real-world Impact that we have.
- Showcase how careers in the HTM field contribute to solving global health challenges, improving patient outcomes and advancing medical research.
By looking for opportunities to talk about our experiences, we can effectively engage and inspire the newer generation to pursue careers in our exciting HTM field!
Carlos Villafañe, CBET, CET, can be found online at biomedtechnicians.com and youtube.com/@tecnicosbiomedicos
