By Keri Forsythe-Stephens
As a journalist, few things excite me more than receiving feedback about something I’ve written. So when I received several emails within hours of one another regarding my September UpFront column—“Getting Schooled About Education”—my nerdy heart soared. Y’all read me; y’all really read me! But it wasn’t my column 24×7 readers were passionate about—it was the subject.
Education in the HTM field is a hot—and potentially divisive—topic. Many ideas have been tossed around to combat the current education-related problems plaguing the biomed sector—namely the widespread program closures. Dr. Barbara Christe, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis’ health care engineering technology management program director (and esteemed 24×7 board member), shared her thoughts on the subject in this month’s Soapbox.
Without giving too much away—read her excellent commentary here—Christe looked at the relationship between corporate America and academia and discussed some discrepancies in the HTM field. “While I maintain strong, synergistic relationships with clinical sites around Indianapolis and the state,” she said, “the lack of corporate partnerships is painfully obvious to my administration and myself.”
Also lacking are efforts among educational institutions to promote the biomed field, according to Eric Damasco, a biomed intern at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. “For prospective students who aren’t pursuing biomed through military service, I think institutions offering biomed programs need to do a better job at high school outreach by getting current students and employed alumni to inspire students and to make biomed an interesting field to pursue,” Damasco wrote in response to my September Soapbox.
A key problem, according to Damasco? “Community colleges, at least in my state, don’t bother to attract high school students to biomed programs and/or non-medical vocational programs, in general, due to a majority of the students knowing they want to study for a transfer degree or for an associate/certificate in a health care profession (i.e., nursing),” he wrote. After all, money talks.
Even so, Washington State Biomedical Association (WSBA) Treasurer Chris Walton, who also responded to my Soapbox column, said he’s had success going around to local high schools to talk about the profession. In fact, he said, roughly 20% of WSBA members are students. Other than doing that, Walton said he’s “at a loss about how to connect to folks who haven’t heard of the field to begin with.” Attracting more women to the profession would also be a good place to start, he wrote in an email.
Do you agree or disagree with these assessments? Drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know. It will make my day.
Keri Forsythe-Stephens is Chief Editor of 24×7.
After reading your article I would like to say that some of the community colleges that we get interns from are not teaching or able to provide some of the basic information a new technician needs in the field. We have taken several interns in and when asked about pressures and some gas properties they all have given us a blank stare and say that they weren’t offered any information of that while in school. Maybe between the teaching institutions there can be a basic set of subjects that are taught. Now granted you only have so much time in a semester or course duration but there should be a basic level of knowledge a person should have after graduating from the school.
Just my two cents worth but after being in this field for over 40 years I feel it is important to have.
Great post. Maybe 24x 7 could help assemble an information/presentation kit for people like me who like going to high schools once a year during career day to tell students about the HTM field.
I don’t know able approaching potential HTM tech’s in high school. I found out about HTM or Biomedical Equipment Tech in my first year of Electronic Tech School. He wasn’t enthusiastic about it. He just said the field is huge and you will use all that you learn here. He said the field was just not for him.
Looking back on my experience when I fist got in this field in 1982, I can see how frustrating it was at the time he was trying to do a good job with it. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but verify that the equipment is working correctly when the Operator thinks its not working right. If any of you had to work on a Grass 6 or 8 EEG you will know what I mean.
If not for Mr. Page mentioning this field I don’t know what I would be doing today.
It is pretty frustrating being one of few females in the industry and even more so the lack of knowledge there is about the trade. Example: My son (9th grader) had his teacher ask for Parents in Engineering to come in and talk about their job…I waited for him to ask me, and when he didn’t, I asked him why he didn’t want me to go to his class. He replied “Oh mom, you’re not a “real” Engineer, you just fix stuff”. He didn’t stop there, he asked me if he could ask the electrician buddy of mine (works at my hospital) if he’d come to his class. I was out-ranked by my fellow electrician in my own home – so much for the 3 yrs of Electrical Engineering courses, BMET, EET, and CBET. LOL Kids gotta lov em!
Hi Maria – I’m thrilled to see that you are a Biomedical Technician! If you have a chance, drop me a note at my PCC email address. And you can tell your son that I’m certainly proud of you! Also, thanks for the artwork! Take care, Gary