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 System 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.”
Your comments and suggestions about this effort are also welcome by e-mailing Steve Campbell at scampbell@aami.org
Source: AAMI News: July/August 2004, Vol. 39, No. 7