EBME Forums Forums Management Training how hard is it to change your career into Biomed

I remember once having ambition and ending up in a supervisory role involving copious quantities of pen pushing and delegation. Found that I was generally losing touch with the technical side of things while I was concentrating on developing the guys around me. They were getting all the nice trips abroad to vendor sites and improving technically while I was learning about appraisal techniques and how to put on funny ears and throw bits of paper around during some management role playing!!....never could understand the point of that!! That’s one example where if you are ambitious you do yourself no favours especially if technical work pushes all the right buttons.
So I must agree with Geoff that “You're better off "just" servicing and supporting the kit”. As long as the work is varied and interesting with plenty of scope for technical development.
On the subject of technical development I can’t understand why local vocational colleges don’t jump at the chance of offering specific equipment courses for the biomed industry. I’m sure they could get their hands on some old equipment and then set up a course and an exam based on a certain amount of theory with a practical rebuild and fault finding element…just a thought because I’m sure the demand would be there and I think employers would also value and recognise that particular approach.

First point:- does your local vocational college offer any equipment servicing course these days?

And secondly, if they did want to have a go at biomed equipment ... who would they find to teach it?

But yes, the the work is (can be, should be) varied and interesting. And technical development (in the biomed field) is limited only by a person's interest and imagination, I would say. Go for it!

I wouldn't think that a local vocational college would be able to offer any equipment servicing courses at all. Unless something is very popular they usually don't have enough student numbers to justify running courses like that. The demand required is quite a lot, the local college even had to drop an angle grinder course due to low numbers. Some colleges even have problems justifying electronics!

It's the same argument on running a foundation degree, the number of students to come out of a economic run course would out number the number of jobs available.

It's only the small places like Eastwood Park, that can run with small numbers, that can actually run these courses.

Michael, in some places you don't have to climb the greasy pole of management to progress. There is some career progression in the NHS but it sounds like there's about the same amount as your current post.

For those who may not know, Eastwood Park used to be run as part of the NHS. In fact it was the engineering training school for the NHS. It is set in pleasant surroundings based upon a grand old country house in (what is now known as) South Gloucestershire, off junction 14 of the M5 motorway. These days it is in the hands of a privately run company (but the food is still good).

Eastwood Park is still in the business of providing courses because:-

1) All the start-up expenses were taken care of years ago by the NHS.
2) They charge the going-rate for their courses.
3) As part of "the deal", they have an obligation to run such courses.
4) They bring in revenue from other activities (weddings, corporate gatherings etc.).

You may be sure that, if it wasn't for item 3) above, those courses would be consigned to the dustbin of history, too.

Meanwhile, what news of Capital at Hartlebury?

At EWP and disregarding the basic Biomedical Equipment Maintenance Practice course and the Foundation Degree, would you say that the other courses were worth paying £1K+ for.

Do the courses cover the most up to date equipment?

Are you given an overview of operating and maintenance principles that would make you competent to work on that equipment?

I see the question of failure (or non failure) of these courses arising in this forum. Has anyone on this forum failed one of these courses and what criteria did you fail to meet?

Thought I would ask before anyone parted with their hard earned cash only to find it didn’t quite match up to their expectations.

Three and a half years ago I forked out £ 3,340 for a two-week holiday at Eastwood Park. It was summer time, and I especially enjoyed jogging around the grounds each morning. And as I say, the grub was good.

Why did I do those courses? Because I thought that my CV would be improved with some recent qualifications.

Did they meet my expectations? Well, yes. As I had done a week there 18 years before, I knew what to expect. Was it worth the money? No.

Does anyone ever fail those courses? Somehow I doubt it. Most of the NHS guys on the courses I have done there seemed to have adopted (what could be called) a holiday mentality.

Course content? Not enough practical work, in my opinion. On the ventilators course (for instance) we spent what seemed like a great deal of time learning how to classify the various types of ventilator. Who cares about that? And frankly, I got hold of the idea that the anaesthesia equipment course had been deliberately restricted on the orders of certain manufacturers!

Did I learn anything new? To be honest, no. Which was a bit surprising, since the previous course I did on anaesthesia and ventilators had been in 1974, and I hadn't touched kit like that "in anger" for at least twelve years.

And again frankly, if I had never seen an anaesthesia trolley or a ventilator before, I don't think I would have felt over-confident about the idea of working on them when I returned to my hospital just on the basis of those courses. I believe they should have been far more "rigorous" (although, to be fair, the instructors did make it clear that the course should be followed up with manufacturer's training). Hopefully, we will hear from some other ex-students now!

Perhaps I should mention that I returned later that year to attend Vaughan Pretlove's excellent one-day course on electrical safety. Again I didn't learn anything new (but a "new guy" would have gained a fair amount of insight), but enjoyed the day very much.

Would I go back? Well, certainly ... just as long as someone else was paying!

As I may have mentioned before, if a guy is a serious student, there are more cost effective ways of learning what you need to know.

I took their ventilator course, the presentation was excellent and it was very interesting. The course certificate took a long time to come through due to the fact that EWP got temporary de-accredited by Edexcel because they were worried about this same issue. Although you have to take into account that the people attending their courses are not just out of school and are from a technical background. I suppose it might be possible to fail one course but frankly if you can't pass a EWP course and your in this field people should start to worry! Edexcel seemed to believe that all was OK as they were soon re-accredited.

As for if it was worth it, on an individual course basis I would say yes but if your talking about doing a few I'd say no. Manufactures often offer training courses which after you've been on a couple you will probably have learned the same stuff and going on a EWP course would probably be completely redundant.

If your thinking about doing a couple of courses prior to obtaining employment in the biomedical field I wouldn't advise it. At least in the NHS if you haven't got the correct mix of qualifications, relevant experience and training, it would get you anywhere.

... on the other hand, for a guy without any previous experience with medical equipment, the two-week "Biomedical Equipment Maintenance Practice" course is as good a place as any to gain a quick, useful, and recognized introduction. That is, to "quickly get up to speed" (in fact, I can't think of another).

I notice that Michael mentions "disregarding" this course. Does that mean he does not fancy it, I wonder? If so, I find that a bit odd, as it is probably the best one of the whole lot! And, as most techs one comes across in the NHS have attended this course at one time or another, it may be seen as an initiation of sorts!

Perhaps I should declare here that (although I know a bit about said course, and even visited the hallowed classrooms during my last visit to Falfield) I have never had the pleasure of attending. But, there again, I was magna cum laude in the Arborfield Class of '74.

Having been on, and then latterly taught on the Biomedical Equipment Maintenance practice course I can view it from both sides. Having originally gained an HNC in radio communications and radar the whole two weeks of the course (taken about three weeks after joining the NHS) were spent in wonderment at the range of kit I would encounter!
When it came to teaching some units it was a real struggle as to what to leave in as time was limited. Some of the guys I was teaching were from overseas and had little electronics background. That said they all passed what was, afterall, a basic test and as I said at the time, the learning starts when the course finishes.
I dont know how "up to date" the current course is but for someone new to the field it is a good base on which to build.
Other than that you cant beat manufacturers courses backed by good old "hands on" experience (and the incentive of a customer looking over your shoulder)........................or failing that grab the service manual and have a good old read!
On the transition from "other trades" to biomeds, some of the best guys I knew, from a technical perspective, were ex TV engineers. It all in there, analogue, digital, RF, audio, High tension, switch mode psus, if you can fix a tv there is little left to surprise you!


A happy new year to all

Ed Bennett
Southwest Medical Ltd

Oh yes.

Wonderment. Yes, that's the word. Apprehensive, even. That's just how I felt, having been used (up until that point) to working on a pretty restricted line of kit. And then going off to work in a hospital (remember the smell?). That was serious stuff (or so it seemed at the time). It's nice to be reminded occasionally what may be going through the "new guy's" mind, and perhaps make allowances for that.

Next ... let's be hearing from Tony Dowman ...