Professionals Who Specialize Find New Rewards and Challenges
Joe Power spent 10 years in the computer field, before returning to a more technically challenging job in medical imaging, and he has no regrets about his career move.
“You gain a body of knowledge and expertise that makes you invaluable in your specialty and it can be emotionally and financially rewarding as well,” said Power, a certified radiology equipment specialist (CRES) and manager of Diagnostic Imaging Support Services at Beaumont Services Co. in Michigan.
Power is one of a growing number of medical technology professionals who have found it both financially and personally rewarding to specialize in areas such as dialysis, radiology, lasers, and imaging.
“One of the benefits of specializing is that I do not need to be constantly referring to service manuals anymore,” said Bryan Beck, equipment specialist/ dialysis at Central Valley Dialysis Lab in Salt Lake City. “I’ve been able to learn the machines I work with at a much more detailed level. This really helps to cut down the time required to troubleshoot the machines.”
Bill Mensing, dialysis technician at St. Elizabeth Medical Center of Northern Kentucky-South Unit in Kentucky, said his dialysis specialty has created a lot of new opportunities to learn. “While my main duty is to maintain the hemodialysis machines and H2O treatment systems for our department, I also have other assorted duties such as patient therapy monitoring, tracking and reporting, assisting in operating budget preparation and monitoring, and staff training,” he said.
Others also revel in the challenge of a specialty. “You work under a lot of pressures, which I personally like,” said Phillip Davis, a certified laboratory equipment specialist (CLES), who is Northeast director of laboratory services for GE Medical Systems. “It has also given me career opportunities and pay advancement that may not have been afforded me otherwise.”
But specializing also has its drawbacks. For many specialists, there is less interaction with colleagues and diverse equipment. “You tend to become isolated from other technical areas and most likely will lose general knowledge in them,” said Power.
“One of the downsides is that I do not have the same association on a daily basis that I used to have with other biomeds,” added Beck. “I also have limited support because there are only two of us who know how to work on dialysis equipment. This also means that I have to be ‘on-call’ half of the time.”
Being on-call can lead to periods of high stress. “You’re always in demand,” added Davis. “It takes great efforts and personal sacrifice to meet deadlines. It’s definitely not an 8 to 5 job.”
Some professionals choose not to specialize. Take, for example, Alan Kuntz, CBET, VP Operations at Modern Biomedical & Imaging, Inc. “No inhouse department or third-party provider can maintain all the equipment within a hospital if everyone ‘specializes.’ There just aren’t enough positions to warrant it,” Kuntz said.
The following is a description of a BMET Specialist at Iowa Methodist Medical Center–Des Moines: BMET: SPECIALIST |
Others find specialists cost effective. “Specialists can provide timely service for equipment that is needed for patient clinical needs. There are also contract cost savings that amount into the tens of thousands of dollars,” said Raymond Beauregard, BMET, laser tech and laser safety specialist at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.
As for the future, many think that information technology (IT) specialists will become more common, and that certification will become necessary.
“The newest generations of dialysis machines are becoming computers that do dialysis,” said Mensing. “It is all a matter of software and if the manufacturer utilizes it the specialization will not be in the specific field, but in the ability to interpret and correct the equipment problem.”
“BMETs who learn data management, data security, and privacy—as in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—will be more suited to such IT roles,” added Kuntz. “Other specialties will be dictated by the evolution of equipment, how original equipment manufacturers choose to deploy their maintenance resources, and what third party firms do in response to that.”
Power believes the convergence of modalities will change the career field. “We’re already seeing the fusion of images with PET (positron emission tomography) and CT (computed tomography) and there are new opportunities with MI (molecular imaging), ultrasound, and nuclear imaging as well," he noted.
Source: AAMI News : Volume 38/Number 11, December 2003, p. 8-9