EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Agenda For Change Bed Technician / Librarian - Agenda for change.

It depends where you work and who you work for - you can't generalise because the service requirements are so fragmented and job-roles so varied.

Larger Medical Physics maintenance sections have evolved by providing some level of technical support for diagnostic radiology equipment (X-ray, Fluoroscopy, CT, MRI, Ultrasound, PET, Gamma Camera, PACS), radiotherapy treatment equipment (LINAC/CT_SIM/PACS) or laboratory equipment (usually as an income generator, to enhance the maintenance budget, or to reduce costs).

EBMEs haven't evolved from a demand to maintain radiology equipment or support clinical examinations, i.e. do routine QA, because, traditionally, the links with radiology haven't been there and EBME doesn't provide clinical examinations that utilise diagnostic radiology equipment or laboratory equipment - many Medical Physics departments do.

If you go beyond plain X-ray equipment (as used at the dentist for example) and consider CT/MRI/PET/LINAC then maintenance is highly specialised. This requires particular knowledge and skills in a range of subjects that goes beyond the bounds of general engineering. Not something I'd want to "dabble" with despite my background knowledge and experience - not without the full support of my employer, the manufacturer, radiology, etc.

The scientific, regulatory, clinical and management aspects of ionising radiation are major issues concerning maintenance so an awareness needs to be there of the issues.

Medical Physics maintenance has tended to stem from a need to support radiology and maintenance of general medical equipment whereas EBME maintenance has predominantly stemmed from estates response to providing maintenance of general medical equipment. It's arguable that EBMEs or small Medical Physics departments cannot provide adequate support to radiology or laboratories if they're struggling with demand for general equipment maintenance - infusion pumps are prevalant.

The bottom-line is that if the employer, radiology or laboratories, don't want to provide for in-house maintenance to support radiology or laboratory equipment then it's unlikely those working in the EBME or Medical Physics department will be required to work on it; irrespective of whether they have the knowledge & skills to do so.

Particularly if these services can be contracted-out transferring the risks associated with ionising radiation and QA of diagnostic equipment to the manufacturers or other 3rd party organisations.