EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Why Clinical technician?

There is, and will continue to be, a requirement for Clinical Technologists in the NHS; supporting professional end users in some form or other. In my experience there are certain "value-added" benefits associated with in-house departments that take on a diverse range of roles and have a wealth of knowledge and expertise available.

Yes, it's likely that there will be less requirement for in-house repairs (and this is the case in my experience) but one certainty is that the quantity, hence capital cost, of equipment in the NHS will certainly continue to rise; relative to the overheads involved with running a technical support service in-house. So perhaps it is not as clear-cut as Alex suggests.

The risk associated with the use of equipment will continue to rise as will the requirements for the purchaser and employer and manufacturers to ensure that equipment functions correctly, is safe, that operators are trained in its use and it is being managed and supported technically speaking.

Therefore the argument is not whether there will be Technologists (I do not like the term "repairmen" it does not adequately describe our role) in the future but how many and what will their roles be. It's a shame that Alex does not enlighten us to his thinking on this aspect.

As for the term professionalism that Alex uses, inferring an association with Medical Physics exclusively, then in 3 years it's likely that whether you're a Medical Physics Technologist or a Medical Engineering Technologists you'll be regarded in the NHS scheme of things as a state-registered Professional; irrespective of job role, duities or responsibilities.

Whatever tasks and duties are required of individuals, whose roles are described under the umbrella Clinical Technologists, then my prediction is that many in-house departments will be providing a service in-house; whether they're employed as Medical Physics Technologists, Medical Engineering Technologists or third-party agents.

Spot on Richard, Good to see you back !! How,s Teddy by the way ??

My original question was what names were out there, it was very interesting to hear the arguments saying we 'we will' 'we will not be here in future' I know for a fact we will be here. What I don't know is what we will be doing. But adapt and evolve, not stagnate to get extinct,
If this means calling ourselves 'Solder monkeys' we know that the job we are doing is worthwhile, but can the training keep up with us?
Degrees HNCs and ONCs can't change fast enough to train people this can only be done by actual experience and qualifications even degrees are just underpinning knowledge for real life

Leonius,

We call ourselves Medical Equipment Management Service (MEMS) but the majority of the Trust refer to us as Medical Physics.

I think Clinical Engineering is a step in the right direction, it shows our engineering part and it shows we apply it to the clinical setting.

My job title is "Biomedical Engineer" working within an Estates Department in EBME. As far as I'm concerned job titles carry little or no meaning unless they are consistent across employers i.e. they are recognised nationally and the postholders perform similar roles. Another view is that the name should actually reflect the job role so that others have an idea what it is just by looking at your ID badge.

Your absolutely right Richard, Biomedical Engineer has done me proud these past 20 odd years, before that like many Biomeds I was equally happy with the title of Television Engineer Good on yer