James O. Wear

Excellence in Clinical Engineering Leadership and the Inaugural AHTF ExCEL Award

Dr Anthony C. Easty is the inaugural recipient of the American College of Clinical Engineering Healthcare Technology Foundations Excellence in Clinical Engineering Leadership Award. This award was established to both define and recognize superior leadership at the institutional level. An important objective of this process is to also use the leadership attributes and performance of the award winners as a resource for further professional development of clinical engineering by disseminating these findings to the community. The article was written in connection with this award.

Advanced Clinical Engineering Workshops

Clinical engineering education programs are not well developed or totally non-existent in most developing and in some industrialized countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and other international bodies concerned with health care infrastructure development have collaborated with the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE) in the development and implementation of an Advanced Clinical Engineering Workshop (ACEW) program to address educational needs. A ten-year retrospective of the ACEW is presented. Approximately 1000 participants including faculty have represented over 50 countries. The mechanics of ACEW development, implementation, and review are presented here. Participants at the 18 ACEWs presented to date include health care decision makers, hospital administrators, health ministry officials, nurses, allied health professionals, physicians, and clinical engineers. Results have been positive. Programs in clinical engineering education have arisen; participants have advanced in positions of leadership; governmental health technology management policies have been developed; and clinical engineers have successfully completed requirements for clinical engineering certification. PEER-REVIEW PAPER 1. ACEW Rationale and Origins

Profile of a BMET (biomedical equipment technician) in small hospitals.

A survey was done of biomedical engineering programs in hospitals of under 100 beds. A random sampling of 400 hospitals was selected from the American Hospital Association Guidebook. Questions were asked with regard to the size, educational background and experience of the biomedical engineering staff. The organizational location of the program was surveyed, and most programs were part of facility engineering. Programs are discussed as full-time, part-time and outside service contracts. An in-depth analysis of the educational and training background of BMETs has been done. This part of the study covered the type of training and what additional training they felt they required.A survey was done of biomedical engineering programs in hospitals of under 100 beds. A random sampling of 400 hospitals was selected from the American Hospital Association Guidebook. Questions were asked with regard to the size, educational background and experience of the biomedical engineering staff. The organizational location of the program was surveyed, and most programs were part of facility engineering. Programs are discussed as full-time, part-time and outside service contracts. An in-depth analysis of the educational and training background of BMETs has been done. This part of the study covered the type of training and what additional training they felt they required.