General Info:
A biomedical equipment technician evaluates, calibrates, and repairs medical equipment. A typical day consist of preventive maintenance, unscheduled repairs, and sometimes in-service (user training). At the beginning of the month, the technician receives a list of items that are due for maintenance that month. She/he determines the priorities of all work assigned. He/she works independently, with very little or no direct supervision. She/he inspects equipment and records on a regular basis to identify problems for research and analysis. The technician also works with the medical staff to identify problems and find solutions. The technician reports to his/her supervisor (Biomedical Engineer) as required.
Physically the job may require extended periods of walking, sitting, standing, bending, climbing, and lift items up to 50 pounds. You may also have to work in awkward positions or cramped spaces.
The job can be stressful. Priorities can change and deadlines can be very tight. Failure to meet deadlines can directly affect patient care.
OK.
Money talks right.
So let me cut to the chase. The field of biomedical equipment repair is very lucrative. Many companies that manufacture medical equipment also employ Biomedical Field Service Technicians that make an average of $80,000 to $100,000 a year. Field service technicians are the subject matter experts on their company’s perspective product. The benefits may include a company vehicle, an expense account, paid travel, company cell, and laptop, medical and dental insurance. The company often offers their technician the opportunity to buy their work vehicles after it reaches a certain life expectancy. I heard of one employee buying his 2007 Chrysler town and country for only $3500, with only 90,000 miles on it. The only drawback is that major companies often make cuts when the economy is bad and it usually starts with the area managers, and sometimes the field service technicians.
A field service technician starts the day off at home. That’s right, I said “at home”. If there are no calls for repairs that day, the most the technician has to do is probably an expense report. About 90% of their work involves travel. Field service technicians are assigned a region to cover. I have two neighbors who are field service technicians, and they drive as far as some parts of Georgia. So for many, it’s a perfect job. For single parents it’s probably not the right job for you. You may be better suited becoming an in-house biomedical equipment technician. I will also go over that field in this narrative.
On the other hand, many hospitals hire in-house biomedical technicians to service the equipment. Their salary ranges from $25,000 for beginners and up to $100,000 for experienced/ specialized technicians. I am an in-house general biomedical technician specializing in ultrasound and dental systems repair. I went to A-dec dental chair repair training in Oregon, Planmeca dental x-ray training in Illinois, and Phillips ultrasound training in Cleveland, Oh. Therefore, even though I am not field service there are still opportunities to for training and advancement. As we speak, I am taking a degree program at Santa Fe College for Networking. How does that relate to the biomedical field? Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) store medical images from ultrasounds or x-rays on servers in a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) format to be retrieved for review. The cool thing about PACS is that a Brain Surgeon in Tokyo can look at images at Shands if his facility is on the same network.
As for longevity, almost any healthcare field has certain job security. The biomedical field in my opinion is safe because unsafe medical equipment will do the opposite of what it was intended to do. Instead of healing, it can kill. We make sure that it works and it works to standard. If you are seriously considering training for this field, then there is one more thing that I want to mention. You have to be willing to move. You have to go where jobs are available. The job is so good that most BMETS will work well past retirement age. Jobs open up often but maybe not in your hometown or any area that you are familiar.
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Description
http://www.aami.org/resources/bmet/whatis.html
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes499062.htm
Professional Organizations
http://www.aami.org/about/
