Have you clicked on our Sneak Peek on our home page? By doing so you’ll get an advance look at the results of our 2008 Compensation Survey. You’ll find after reading it that training is something a lot of you said you’d like but don’t always get. Biomed Manager Debra Grigg of Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare has a concern about this very issue and is reaching out to all of you for some advice and feedback. We’ll be looking forward to your comments. Here’s what she said:
I have a concern and would like some feedback. I have been a biomed department manager for over 15 years. What I am starting to see is a drastic change in the ability for the biomed manager/director to obtain precious biomed training for my staff. It seems that the training is “written off” as a cost savings to the purchase price of the capital equipment or imaging system. In other words, the sales reps are not including biomedical training in the capital quote. It is put in as an “option” to be added to the capital cost of the equipment. Our hospital currently has a policy that will not allow any training cost to be purchased as capital equipment since it cannot be depreciated.
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My experience with vendors in the past was that the cost was not listed as separate but, “included” at no charge as an added value to the capital purchase. It just seems that many vendors are not doing this, at least not for us. It used to be very routine to expect a class or classes for technical training for your staff as part of the purchase.
My hospital is in the process of building an entirely new hospital from the ground up, which should be completed sometime in late 2011. Should I still expect to get N/C training slots for my biomed and biomed imaging staff based on the large amount of equipment and systems we are going to purchase? Some of this equipment will be purchased over the next 3 years and will be moved to the new hospital.
I’d like to know if other in-house biomed/clinical engineering departments are having the same struggle to get training for their staff. If it turns out that my hospital is the exception, I may be able to convince our purchasing department to get tougher with vendors. Specifically those who are driving up the cost of maintaining the equipment by making you get a contract to support it.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
From: Debra Grigg; Biomed Manager; Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare
