Technology
Management Council

Leaders of AAMI’s Technology Management Council (TMC) took part in radio interviews from coast to coast recently to help promote the biomed profession. To listen to the audio clips, click here.

The interviews — airing during National Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week in May — were broadcast on radio stations from Boston, MA and Charlotte, NC to Lansing, MI and Los Angeles, CA. TMC leaders discussed the importance of the biomed field and the career options available.

“We make the assumption that when we or one of our loved ones goes to the hospital that the medical equipment will be operational,” Carol Davis-Smith, a director at Premier Inc. and TMC chair, said in one of the interviews. “But that doesn’t happen through magic as you might imagine. It happens through the skills and the professionalism of biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), clinical engineers, and a host of other technology management folks in hospitals throughout the country.”

For the participants, being interviewed on the radio was a new experience. “The interviewers from each of the three stations I spoke to were very different, but positive,” Davis-Smith says. “Each made the experience more conversational, which really helps the novice interviewee.”

“It was interesting to find that most of the hosts seemed to have a genuine interest in the topic,” says Ken Maddock, corporate director of biomedical technology services at Baylor Health Care in Texas and a TMC member. “Healthcare is very much at the forefront of the news for a lot of reasons, and healthcare topics hit home for people.”

The radio interviews were another forum for highlighting the field and Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week. “I would guess that the lion’s share of the radio stations’ audience has never heard of a BMET,” Maddock says. “At the least those who were listening learned about the existence of a field they were previously unaware of.”

TMC members say their interviews not only highlighted the field to the general public, but also to potential future biomeds. “All three of my interviewers were very interested in the mid-career opportunities,” Davis-Smith says. “Given the current economic conditions, everyone is looking for more stability. The radio interviews gave us an opportunity to highlight the financial and altruistic rewards of pursuing a clinical engineering or BMET career.”

In addition to Davis-Smith and Maddock, other TMC leaders who took part in the radio interviews were Dave Francoeur, the TMC’s vice chair; and Steve Yelton.

Audio clips of the radio interviews can be found here.