futuros biomédicos

1. The Big Picture
Preparing Biomeds
For the Future
Leanne Cordisco, Yadin David
About the Authors
Leanne Cordisco is
the Healthcare IT
Program Manager
at GE Healthcare.
E-mail: leanne.
cordisco@med.
ge.com
Yadin David RE.,
C.C.E.,Ed.D. is prin-
cipal at Biomédical
Engineering Con-
sultants, LLC and
Assistant Professor
at University of Te-
xas School of Public
Health. E-mail: david@biomedeng.com
This past April, a diverse group of 30 industry
professionals met at AAMI headquarters in
Arlington, VA., to discuss the future of the
profession. Among their recommendations:
"Healthcare Technology Management" should
be the official name of the field responsible for
managing the selection, maintenance, and safe
and effective use of medical equipment and of
systems. That recommendation speaks volumes
about the changes happening within the
applied biomédical engineering profession.
This landmark forum was important for both
clinical engineering (CE) and information
technology (IT) professionals, as participants
concluded that the skills traditionally held by
either group are not enough to succeed in the
world of technology-driven healthcare. Undoubt-
edly, the race to meet the requirements of
"meaningful use"—standards that the federal
government wants doctors and hospitals to meet
in the move toward electronic health records—
has acted as one of the catalysts for expanding
our professional skill set Although there are
many initiatives aimed at the education, training,
and credentialing of the new healthcare technol-
ogy management worker, their findings are
remarkably similar. Certainly, it is a blended
CE-IT role, but it goes farther than that The
synergies of combining CE and IT have created a
role that is extremely powerful.
Vision, People, and Strategy
To be successful, an organization needs to
promote training and encourage its people to
pursue their professional development. A
survey on the professional education challenges
in clinical engineering published in 2008'
shows that only 22% of the survey responders
felt that they "always" or "usually" have ade-
quate opportunity for professional
development As technical knowledge half-life
is getting shorter, the survey results underscore
the critical issue of timely education.
Lifelong learning is the norm in IT, and it is
generally regarded as the responsibility of the
employee to keep current with technology. As
convergence of CE and IT continues, we are
likely to see biomeds taking more initiative in
keeping current with technology. It is important
to ask yourself, "If not now, when? If not me,
who?" Through a commitment to training and
education CE and IT stakeholders will have the
skills to achieve their organizational goals.
Many new educational opportunities are
available to assist CE and IT, and this article will
summarize the current activities shaping the
training and education of the healthcare
technology manager and the similarities
between the initiatives.
Healthcare Technology Managers
Healthcare technology managers are shaping the
vision for the future of the profession. The vision
includes, but is not limited to, a continued focus
on safety, risk management, technical support of
medical devices and clinical technologies,
teamwork, and financial stewardship. The vision
also includes management of healthcare
20 Horizons Fall 2011

2. The Big Picture
technologies that are highly integrated and
interoperable. Healthcare technology manage-
ment professionals will be fully integrated
members within the healthcare delivery team,
and will have significant infiuence in the
management of all healthcare technology. In
addition, the career path will be better defined,
with a supportive educational infrastructure.
Several organizations and groups including
the National Science Foundation, the Clinical
Engineering Division^ of the International
Federation of Biological and Medical Engineer-
ing (IFMBE), and the Healthcare Technology
Foundation (HTF) recognized the need to
expand and refocus the skills of practitioners in
the clinical engineering field and are develop-
ing educational programs. This is taking place
both domestically and globally. The increasing
dependence of the management of patient
conditions on technology places critical
importance on the ability of technology
managers to understand systems performance
in addition to device operation. The newly
adopted standard IEC 80001 is a good example
of the interaction between network manage-
ment, medical device support and risk control.
You cannot effectively separate the components;
rather, you can manage the system.
In the near future, professionals in our field
will be expected to be able to identify opportu-
nities for work-process improvement using
technology integration across healthcare
settings, aligned with the strategic objectives of
the healthcare organization. Therefore, there is
a need to add general knowledge of information
technology principles as applied to healthcare,
effective interpersonal communication,
collaboration, and problem-solving skills. This
professional will have a general understanding
of the core systems and types of technology
used in the delivery of healthcare services.
Knowledge domains include the organizational
environment of healthcare, the technology
environment of healthcare, team leadership,
and technology administration.
'Core Curriculum' Considerations
The impact of education on one's career was
illustrated in an article this past summer in The
New York Times* which found that the greater
your education, the lesser your chances of
unemployment. In healthcare, there are even
higher expectations that workers are adequately
prepared for their job and that they will
continuously maintain their skills. In the
healthcare technology management field, we
still have a way to go to determine basic
uniform education requirements. There are
several degree programs for biomédical
equipment technicians in the United States and
only limited offerings of clinical engineering
programs, but no "core curriculum" has been
standardized or published for these programs.
AAMI's Educators' Roundtable is comprised of
experts in the field of education and has engaged
a group of academicians that lead and/or teach in
BMET programs to help develop a closer
relationship between core curriculum taught and
the fast-changing practice. The group's goal and
focus is to retain the essential aspects of biomédi-
cal equipment technology and IT skills that
historically have served both professions well,
while keeping pace with the evolving roles and
responsibilities of the healthcare technology
manager over the next decade.
Informatics and
Healthcare Technology Training
Certifications and certificates are commonplace
within the IT world, but untu very recently, no
certificate focused on the networking needs of
the healthcare community. CompTIA's
Healthcare IT Technician fills that void.
CompTIA creates and manages IT certifications
across a broad range of subspecialties. In 2010,
CompTIA announced its intention to create
certifications and certificates for the expanding
healthcare IT space and formed a healthcare IT
community. The output ofthat effort is the
CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certificate.
It covers the knowledge and skills required to
implement, deploy, and support healthcare IT
systems in various clinical settings.
Launched in May 2010, the certificate covers
five knowledge domains: regulatory require-
ments within healthcare, organizational
behaviors within healthcare, IT skills, medical
business operations and the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and
security. Topics in the medical business
operation domain include the purpose and
function of medical devices and healthcare IT
protocols like HL7. CompTIA is accepting new
members into the Healthcare IT Community,
providing an easy way for CE and IT to stay
current with changes in technology.
Healthcare technology
managers are shaping
the vision for the
future of the
profession. The vision
includes, but is not
limited to, a continued
focus on safety, risk
management, technical
support of medical
devices and clinical
technologies, team
work, and financial
stewardship.
Horizons Fall 2011 21

3. The Big Picture
For More Information
Forum Recommends Unified
Name, Vision for Field
www.aami.org/news/2011/050611.
future.forum.html
Getting Started with IEC 80001
wvvw.aami.org/publications/
books/80001-GS.html
Healthcare Technology
Foundation
http://thehtf org/
ONC HITECH Training Materials
wwwonc-ntdc.org
ONC HITECH Competency Exams
http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server
pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov
competency_examination_pro-
gram_%282%29/1809
CompTIA Healthcare IT Certificate
http://certification.comptia.org/
getCertified/certificates/hittech.aspx
Certified Professional in
Healthcare Information and
Management Systems
www.himss.org/ASP/certification_
cphims.asp
The Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology (ONC) has
released a set of 20 curriculum components to
the public at no cost. Funded by the $10
million ONC Curriculum Development
Centers Program, these teaching materials
have been in use for the past year by the 82
member colleges of the ONC Community
College Consortia Program. It is expected that
these materials will fill an urgent need in the
educational marketplace.
Designed around the six mobile workforce
roles identified by ONC, the components are
intended to become the building blocks of
health IT courses at community colleges and
universities. In-service training and continuing
education programs at healthcare institutions
and regional extension centers may also benefit
from the use of the components. Each compo-
nent is made up of several units that can be
modified and combined to meet the needs of
instructors as they design their courses. The
components include slide-based lectures with
audio narration and transcripts, learning
activities, self-assessment questions with
answer keys, and instructor manuals.
The components cover topics such as
workflow process redesign, technical support,
networking, usability, and project management,
among others. Three of the components offer a
hands-on lab experience for students supported
by the VistA for Education electronic health
record software package, also available at no cost.
To obtain the materials, go to www.onc-ntdc.org.
ONC HITECH Certificate
For Implementation Support Specialists
Workers in this role provide onsite user support
for the period of time before and during
implementation of health IT systems in clinical
and public health settings. These individuals
will provide support services, above and beyond
what is provided by the vendor, to be sure the
technology functions properly and is configured
to meet the needs of the redesigned practice
workflow. Knowledge domains for this certifi-
cate include Networking and Health
Information Exchange, Configuring EHRs,
Vendor-Specific Systems, Working with Health
IT Systems, Installation and Maintenance of
Health IT Systems, Information and Computer
Science and Terminology in Health Care, and
Public Health Settings.
ONC HITECH Certificate
For Technical/Sofiware Support Staff
Workers in this role will support on an ongoing
basis the technology deployed in clinical and
public health settings. Workers in this role
maintain systems in clinical and public health
settings, including patching and upgrading of
software. They also provide one-on-one
support, in a traditional "help desk" model, to
individual users with questions or problems.
Knowledge domains for this certificate include
Networking and Health Information Exchange,
Special Topics Course on Vendor-Specific
Systems, Information and Computer Science,
Working with Health IT Systems, Installation
and Maintenance of Health IT Systems,
Configuring EHRs, and Professionalism/
Customer Service in the Health Environment.
Summary
Clinical engineering and biomédical equipment
technician (BMET) practices must be supported
by offering updated professional development
programs that expand and prepare practitioners
for new career challenges. These programs
should also promote lifelong participation. CEs
and BMETs need to commit to participate in
such development programs and understand
the need for gaining new competencies.
Educators should strive to maintain their
training program in pace with pending needs of
a changing market. Immediate commencement
of such learning and overcoming the lack of
specific CE/IT competency benchmarking will
place practitioners in a better position to have
an interesting and rewarding career. •
References
1. David Y, laramillo F, Stiefel R. Educational
Challenges in Clinical Engineering Profession:
A Survey, yourno/ of Clinical Engineering.
2008;33(l);154-158.
2. Yahoo! Groups. Clinical Engineering Division
of the IEMBE. Available at: http://health.groups.
yahoo.com/group/CEDGlobal/. Accessed July 2011.
3. The New York Times. Less Than High School
and Falling Behind. )uly 10, 2011, Available at:
www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/07/10/
business/101earnGraphic.html?ref=business.
Accessed July 2011.
22 Horizons Fall 2011

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