The Technology Management Council
Outreach, Benchmarking Top
Priority List of TMC
Members of AAMI’s new Technology Management Council (TMC)
intend to increase outreach efforts to local and regional biomedical
societies over the next year and tackle several other projects of
interest to biomedical equipment technicians, clinical engineers,
and other technology managers.
At their first meeting, held during AAMI’s Annual Conference
in Boston in June, TMC members decided to focus on three major priorities
during their first year. The 21-member Council plans to:
- Enhance outreach
efforts and provide additional support to biomedical societies,
- Increase
communication and outreach efforts to nurses, and
- Begin development
of a benchmarking survey to provide guidance on key issues to
health care technology managers in the field.
In addition, several TMC members are playing an active role in
providing support for a new “best practices” column in
AAMI’s journal, BI&T, while other TMC members are
helping to develop the 2nd edition of IT Horizons, a special
publication focused on information technology (IT) issues in health
care. The 2nd edition of IT Horizons will be published and
mailed to all AAMI members later this year.
“Each of these projects will be tools for individuals in the
clinical engineering/biomedical engineering profession to utilize
and enhance their programs and their personal and professional experience,”
said David Francoeur, CBET, executive director of service operations,
TriMedx.
“From my standpoint, many great ideas are being worked on
currently and others will be addressed in the future,” he added.
The TMC, formed by the AAMI Board of Directors, is designed to
serve the interests of biomedical equipment technicians, clinical
engineers, and others who provide management and support for medical
technology.
In coming weeks and months, TMC members and AAMI staff will develop
a plan to implement the specific priorities identified by the TMC—projects
that will provide important information to their colleagues in the
field.
“The outreach projects (to biomedical societies and nurses)
are focused on building and enhancing the professional relationships
required to meet the demands of technology management issues today
and tomorrow,” said Carol Davis-Smith, CCE, vice chair of the
TMC. “The benchmarking project will help us identify, define,
and clarify the metrics to tell us if we are making progress, individually
and collectively.
”Alan Lipschultz, CCE, director of clinical engineering, Christiana
Care Health Services in Delaware, said the benchmarking survey is
a valuable long-term, important project.
“The only published benchmark information available right
now is acknowledged to be poor and badly designed,” he said.
Steve Campbell, the primary AAMI staff contact for the TMC, noted
that other potential activities of the TMC include greater involvement
in evaluating new changes to the Joint Commission (JCAHO) standards
and their effects on the clinical engineering community; and follow-up
on an intriguing presentation made by Jeff Cooper on using medical
technology as a lever for patient safety.
In addition to the TMC meeting, the Council hosted a public forum
during the AAMI Conference to outline the TMC priorities and listen
to ideas offered by more than 30 BMETs, clinical engineers, and
technology managers. The specific suggestions offered by conference
attendees will be presented to the TMC for consideration.
“Collectively, we realize that we have the opportunity to
impact technology management in very real and meaningful ways at
the local, regional, and national levels,” said Davis-Smith,
who is with the Capital Lifecycle Solutions team at Premier. “We
recognize that we have a host of expertise and resources to draw
upon given the diverse AAMI membership. Most importantly, we realize
that AAMI is ‘us’—members and staff.”
For more information about the TMC, visit www.aami.org/resources/BMET/news.html.
Your comments and suggestions about this effort are also welcome
by e-mailing Steve Campbell at scampbell@aami.org
Reprinted
from AAMI News: July/August 2004, Vol. 39, No. 7
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