If You Give Your BMET* a Bagel…

*BMET = BioMedical Equipment Technician

a.k.a. “Biomed”

He may slow down long enough to tell you how things are going. For example…

The product evaluation committee he sits on has finally decided which defibrillator to purchase for

the new patient tower.

And the antenna installation for the telemetry system is right on schedule.

You remind him that he will need to schedule a time to inservice the staff on the patient

monitoring system after the software upgrade is completed.

While you’re on the subject of scheduling, he needs to know when he can have access to the

portable x-ray machine for preventive maintenance.

He’ll need some extra time to replace the batteries this time around, but he was able to

find the exact same ones the manufacturer uses for 1/3 the cost by researching alternate

vendors.

Before he leaves, you’ll ask him to take a look at the non-invasive blood pressure monitor to see if

he can repair it.

Fortunately, it’s just a leaky cuff which he can easily replace from the Biomed parts inventory.

You tell him there’s no rush – it can wait until tomorrow.

On the way to the shop, he’ll pass by the Hospital Administrator and the Risk Manager.

The Risk Manager will tell him about a device–related incident involving a ventilator. He’ll call one of his factory-trained technicians to conduct

an incident investigation immediately.

Then the Administrator will question him about a service contract proposal he received regarding

the lab equipment.

He’ll want to conduct a contract review. Since his fellow technicians are already competent

working with centrifuges and microscopes, the hospital can probably save money by having

Biomed take first call on those devices instead.

Continuing on his way, he’ll stop to consult with one of the Information Services gurus about

networking issues with the Radiology Information System.

A short while later, the manager of Central Services will inform him that because of the high patient census, they’ll need to rent more infusion

pumps.

He’ll ask her to wait until he checks the equipment inventory in their asset tracking

system first. He may know where some unused pumps are hidden away.

Arriving back at his department, he takes care of his many responsibilities before the end of the

workday, but he makes sure the on-call tech has his pager so Biomed can provide round-the-clock

coverage.

First thing the next morning, he returns with that blood pressure cuff he promised you.

And he notices that another vendor has dropped off some bagels for breakfast…

so you give your BMET a bagel…

BMETs – Servicing Technology for Life