Southern Colorado is known for mountains, its famous ski and vacation destinations and hot springs. It is also the home of Memorial Hospital, part of University of Colorado Health (UCHealth).
Recently, Memorial received a top five hospital designation in Colorado from U.S. News and World Report. All of UCHealth hospitals are ranked in the top 10, according to Clinical Engineering Operations Manager Ryan Titus, CBET, BSM, MBA.
“As a team, we support more than 13,000 assets which are worth more than $165 million, two hospitals and multiple offsite clinics that are increasing in numbers every few months,” Titus says.
Those two hospital campuses in Colorado Springs are Memorial Hospital North and Memorial Hospital Central. The North campus has 80 beds and the Central campus has 427 beds. Children’s Hospital Colorado is building a tower on the North campus as well.
As operations manager, Titus is responsible for the daily in-house operations including the technical staff and clinical equipment techs.
The team consists of two managers, three imaging engineers, two senior biomeds, three intermediate biomeds, three associate biomeds, six clinical equipment techs (CET) and one vendor support.
The department also includes one intermediate biomed and two clinical equipment techs, who are based at Memorial North. The rest are based at Central. The techs from Central help support Memorial North.
The group includes Imaging Engineer Ronnie Griffin, CBET; Imaging Engineer Clint Carter, CBET, CRES; Imaging Engineer Tim Stoecker CBET, A+, N+; Senior Biomeds Steve Harding, CBET, and Leticia Reynolds, CBET; Intermediate Biomeds Corey Weeden; Dave Raduns, CBET; Isaac Montoya; Associate Biomeds Amoria Poth, Larry Anders and Thomas Lycett; Carol Lewis, CET; Daniel Williams, CET; Annie Garcia, CET; Christine Abram, CET; Christopher Davis, CET; Dallas Carter, CET; Janet Carlton; Vendor Support and Vendor Services Manager Daniel Klausmeier, BA, MBA.
“The Vendor Services Manager oversees all of the medical equipment contracts and vendor services for Memorial. Any service performed by a vendor on medical equipment at Memorial is tracked by the Vendor Services Manager. This includes documentation of work performed, quarterly reviews, contract analysis and system semi-annual reviews,” Titus says.
The Vendor Support position reports to the Vendor Services Manager and assists with record keeping, parts orders, requisitions for POs, department supplies and any other administrative duties needed for the department.
“This position also handles the process of sending all scope, camera and OR electrical instrumentation repairs to a vendor for evaluation,” Titus adds.
The team’s techs are assigned to a specific department.
“This allows them to become familiar with the clinical staff and equipment within those departments. In short, they are essentially specialized in the departments they are assigned,” Titus says.
Projects and Problem Solving
“The Clinical Equipment Techs are responsible for cleaning and par’ing equipment in clinical departments. Several years ago, we discovered that clinical staff was spending a significant amount of time each day trying to locate and clean infusion pumps and similar devices that float from department to department. After careful analysis, it was determined that having a team that cleaned and par’ed equipment within the clinical units was beneficial financially and freed up more time for the nurse to be at the bedside. This has been a successful program since its inception.”
“Thanks to the great relationships our department has with Supply Chain and PDC (Planning, Design and Construction), we are involved with many new projects that involve medical equipment. Just recently, Clinical Engineering has been involved with a new Radiation Oncology building, multiple Acute Care floor remodels, install of a new MRI, CT, EP Lab, full integration of our infusion pumps with our EMR, OR room remodel, install of new monitors in several locations and the new tower at Memorial North,” Titus says.
He says that the department is responsible for multiple 10-year replacement plans for capital equipment.
“Any time devices like beds, pumps or stretchers that span are shared by multiple departments, it makes sense for Clinical Engineering to plan for these replacements,” he says.
The plans, created during the past two years, allow the organization’s CFO and executive team to plan ahead and know what funding will be requested in the coming years. This allows them to keep on top of current technology.
The team has also put on a detective hat from time to time and used innovative thinking to problem solve.
“Recently, we had an unusual amount of pulse oximeters being tagged for service,” Titus says.
The team developed a process to ensure that the pulse oximeters are updated with the latest technology. They have a robust system to work with the vendor for software updates.
All of the department’s technicians are members of the Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians (CABMET). They regularly attend quarterly meetings and annual symposiums. Titus sits on the association’s board.
The team of clinical engineers also goes the extra mile to make sure that the equipment it sends through Project C.U.R.E., a non-profit organization that provides donated medical supplies and equipment
to developing countries, is in
top condition.
“Some of our techs have volunteered to help Project C.U.R.E. test all of the equipment they receive from donations,” Titus says.
The clinical engineering team at Memorial Hospital’s campuses gets the job done for UC Health with professionalism and innovative thinking, and most importantly, for patients.