Summary: AAMI and the Global Clinical Engineering Alliance (GCEA) have translated the HTM Benchmarking Guide into multiple languages, expanding global access to this resource for clinical engineers and HTM professionals, with more translations planned to support developing economies.
Key Takeaways
- Multilingual Access: The AAMI HTM Benchmarking Guide is now available in Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and French, with additional translations planned, expanding global accessibility to this resource.
- Global Support for Developing Economies: This translation project aims to support HTM and clinical engineering professionals in developing economies by providing tools to manage and improve department performance.
- Collaborative Effort: AAMI and GCEA’s partnership underscores their commitment to sharing resources that promote clinical engineering advancements and overcome linguistic barriers worldwide.
A new resource is now available for clinical engineers and healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals just in time for Global Clinical Engineering Day on October 21.
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the Global Clinical Engineering Alliance (GCEA) have translated previously English-only resources into Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and French. AAMI’s HTM Benchmarking Guide is available for free in these four languages, in addition to English. These translations are the first product of a memorandum of understanding between AAMI and GCEA. Additional translations into Japanese, Arabic, Russian, and Turkish are planned.
Departmental Performance Improvement Tool
This translation project is part of AAMI and GCEA’s ongoing efforts to support the HTM and clinical engineering field globally, especially in developing economies where access to resources is limited.
The AAMI HTM Benchmarking Guide provides tools for both new and established HTM and clinical engineering departments to evaluate their performance, manage equipment, staff, and training, and use data and peer feedback to drive improvement. The guide includes guidance on managing departmental issues, collecting data, calculating performance metrics, and benchmarking performance against other HTM departments.
The guide was first published in 2018 and has been widely used by American HTM departments. It was created by longtime AAMI members and clinical engineers Ted Cohen, Frank Painter, Matt Baretich, and David Braeutigam.
Translations into Eight Languages
Danielle McGeary, AAMI’s Vice President of HTM, emphasized the importance of this resource, commenting: “AAMI’s HTM Benchmarking Guide is an important resource that helps HTM departments function in an optimal manner and ensure patient safety. The translation of this document into eight additional languages extends AAMI’s impact on the HTM field to a new audience of healthcare professionals around the globe.”
GCEA President Yadin David, MD, also highlighted the value of the collaboration, stating: “Our diverse global clinical engineering community will benefit significantly from the translation of this guide on healthcare technology management and benchmarking. Working together, GCEA and AAMI will continue to facilitate the sharing of such guidelines that increase the capacity of clinical engineering progress, regardless of the linguistic barriers faced internationally.”
The English, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, and French versions of the guide can be accessed online.