The AAMI Technology Management Council has wrapped up HTM Week, its annual celebration of the healthcare technology management profession, by announcing the winner of its contest to recognize the most inventive department celebration of the event. That honor went to the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago HTM team, which is a contracted department with Crothall Healthcare Technology Solutions.
The team’s efforts earned a personal note from George Mills, director of the Department of Engineering at The Joint Commission, who told hospital administrators of the recognition, says Kelley Harris, director of healthcare technology management at Children’s Hospital. “I immediately notified my team,” she said.
The biomeds kicked off the week by renaming themselves the “healthcare technology management department,” in accordance with AAMI’s push for broader adoption of the term. Department employees wore HTM-branded polo shirts to increase visibility, posted HTM Week posters throughout the facility, and created a booth where they highlighted their team’s efforts and handed out customized magnets.
Additional events at Children’s Hospital were modeled after familiar Chicago celebrations. As part of a “Technetian Lights Parade,” imitating the city’s Venetian Night festival, biomeds paraded new carts around a hospital floor. The winning “float” featured a a Chicago Blackhawks theme and was driven by the Elmo character from Sesame Street. Members of the HTM department also invited hospital staff to their shop to try homebaked goods, in a tribute to the Taste of Chicago outdoor food festival.
According to Harris, her department has decided to make the parade a permanent feature of the annual celebration. “The team is already talking about design ideas for next year. For them to bring smiles to our customers and patients was such a reward for all the planning and effort we put in,” she said.
