By Steven J. Yelton, P.E., AAMIF
I always like to share my ideas about how AAMI can provide resources and help to benefit the HTM profession. I’m excited to be able to tell you about some changes that the AAMI Foundation has undergone. I’m hoping that this article will help HTM professionals see how they could take advantage of some of these benefits.
I wanted to write about this in my TechNation column to make sure that the HTM community realizes how the foundation can benefit us. The AAMI foundation submitted its inaugural issue of the “AAMI Foundation Newsletter.” To give everyone an indication of the direction of the Foundation, one will notice that the tagline of AAMI Foundation News is “Scholarships Research Honors.”
When contributions are made to the foundation, the donor can specify where they would like their donations to go. In 2023 and 2024, 70% went to scholarships, 4% to grants and 26% to awards. All of these areas directly enhance HTM.
As an educator, I am very interested in the area of scholarships. I strongly encourage students to apply for scholarships since I know how much they can assist the student in continuing, if not completing, their education. It seems like every HTM column talks about the need for HTM professionals and, in particular, technicians. I would like to mention some of the information from that AAMI Foundation Newsletter that helps explain the scholarship program. I encourage all of you to reach out to any students or potential students that you may know and ask that they apply for an AAMI scholarship. This will help the individual and the HTM field.
The scholarship recipients this year ranged from a high school student to a Ph.D. candidate. Many of the scholarship recipients are interested in pursuing a medical technology career. The most prestigious of these scholarships are generally awarded to high school and college students that demonstrate abundant technical aptitude.
I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the scholarship recipients in recent years. The trait that impressed me the most was that these students obviously spent a lot of time investigating their career path and plan to support and promote their field. In many cases, that field is HTM related. Many of the scholarship applicants and recipients are from the University of Connecticut Clinical Engineering program as well as many other AS, BS and graduate programs.
I would also like to give you an update on the HTM Education Standard that many of you have been helping us complete. We are making great progress on the standard and hope to have it completed this year. Just to refresh your memory, this standard was proposed and developed to help educators, technicians, students and employers determine a baseline of topics that should be in an HTM education program. This is considered an entry-level standard. Our hope is that once the standard is complete, the groups mentioned above can use the standard to evaluate their individual situation. A college program can evaluate its curriculum to see if there are any gaps, an employer can use it to address competency levels of technicians and students can use it to evaluate their own expertise. As I mentioned, be on the lookout for the standard soon.
Another topic that I would like to remind everyone of is the area of certification. Many graduates and employees ask me what they can do to further their credentials. They mention that they really don’t want to get advanced degrees but would like to show that they have advanced skills in a particular area. I am quick to mention to them the benefits to acquiring a certification. There are three particular certifications that HTM professionals currently in the field may find useful. The first is the CBET. This is the Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician. Another is the CRES. This is the Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist. Finally, there is the CHTM. This is the Certified Healthcare Technology Manager. All of these certifications serve as a measure of your competence in your field. Some employers use the certification as a measure of awarding a promotion.
I hope that many, if not all, of you who are reading this column are saying: “Of course I know about all of these things that he mentioned.” If not, this is a resource for the few of you who have forgotten about these topics.
