‘Men in Blue’ Are Stars of Healthcare Technology Management Week
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| The clinical engineering department at EMH Elyria Medical Center poses for the “Men in Blue” promotion. They are, from left, Allen McHugh, John Hojnacki, Zachariah Chance, David Mann, Mark Kundrick, and John Mohanna. |
When you have an alien problem, you call the Men in Black. At EMH Elyria Medical Center, when you have an equipment problem, you call the Men in Blue.
Three years ago, technicians in the Elyria, OH, center’s Clinical Engineering Department started to wear blue lab coats to distinguish themselves visually from the white-coated doctors. The result was a bit surprising to department manager David Mann.
“Out of nowhere, people started calling us Men in Blue,” he said. “We put on the shades just like the characters in the movies, started taking pictures, and it was a huge hit.”
The department took things a bit further this year for Healthcare Technology Management Week, which ran May 20–26. Mann offered a free day off to the entire facility for whoever scored the best on a quiz about the department’s duties.
For its creativity, the department was hailed by AAMI’s Technology Management Council as the winner of a contest to determine who best celebrated Healthcare Technology Management Week.
The quiz included questions such as what does the department work on, and how many work orders a month does it average. “There was also some fun stuff, such as which biomed wrestled a bear,” Mann chuckled.
The team put up a display in the cafeteria with pictures of the technicians doing various jobs and wearing their
trademark wraparound sunglasses.
Every day during the special week, Mann would send e-mails to the facility staff with facts about the department. “I threw in a little bit of biomed wisdom like never start a software upgrade on a Friday afternoon,” he said.
Mann said that the creative outreach efforts are vital to enhance the prominence of the department and the valuable work it does. “Like a lot of biomed shops, we are the anonymous techies in the basement,” he said. “If you want to be noticed you have to get out there a little bit.”
He plans to use the $100 prize from AAMI to help his team unwind. “We are definitely going to have a night out,” Mann said.
AAMI News: July 2012, Vol. 47, No. 7