The News Room

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) will significantly expand the number of webinars offered in 2010 in an effort to provide members fresh new educational content in a cost-effective manner.

AAMI will hold nearly 30 online seminars on topics ranging from benchmarking and quality systems to dialysis and sterilization.

“Although webinars are not replacements for comprehensive training programs or conferences, many individuals within one organization can participate in a one to two hour webinar without traveling anywhere or spending time away from the workplace,” says Leah Lough, AAMI executive vice president for education and membership.

The AAMI webinars will include, for example:

• A Feb. 24 session on connectors. The webinar will focus on what clinical users and manufacturers can do to minimize the risk of small bore tubing set misconnections. It will also touch on the current international standard in development, ISO/DIS 80369-1, Small bore connectors for liquids and gases in healthcare applications—Part 1: General requirements.
• A series of webinars in the spring on the application of dialysis standards. Three of the webinars will examine the user standards ANSI/AAMI RD52:2004, Dialysate for hemodialysis, RD47:2008 Reprocessing of hemodialyzers, and RD61:2006, Concentrates for hemodialysis. The fourth webinar will focus on the device standard RD62:2006, Water treatment equipment for hemodialysis applications.
• Another webinar will focus on purchasing and supply chain management for medical device manufacturers, and how manufacturers can meet regulations from the Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF) regarding purchasing controls.

Other new AAMI webinars will explore the latest updates on regulations and standards from The Joint Commission. Several online sessions also will be conducted on benchmarking and AAMI’s Benchmarking Solution—an online tool that helps clinical engineering programs measure practices, procedures and policies against similar departments.

The exact dates for many of the webinars haven’t been set yet, and will be publicized on AAMI’s website and in future editions of AAMI News in the coming months.

Earlier this year, AAMI conducted a number of focus groups to examine the future opportunities for distance learning. “While face-to-face training is the ideal learning environment, distance learning continues to be a viable alternative for AAMI members,” Lough said, in summarizing the survey findings. “Focus group participants also indicated that AAMI’s current webinar format can provide supplemental training on a specific topic in a short amount of time.”

Focus group attendees spoke highly of webinars because there are no travel costs; the programs can offer many of the same benefits as a training program; and registration is charged per site, not per person, which enables conceivably several hundred people to take advantage of a webinar at one location.

Many webinars are recorded and available for purchase on CD afterwards so that you can share with co-workers unable to attend. To learn more about AAMI webinars, or to register, visit www.aami.org/webinar.

Founded in 1967, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) is a nonprofit organization representing a unique alliance of nearly 6,000 members from around the world united by one mission — to increase the understanding and beneficial use of medical instrumentation through effective standards and educational programs, and publications.