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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 14
Novice
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OP
Novice
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 14 |
Hi biomedbill.
I have been looking for clinical engineering vacancies till now, having a background in medical electronics, but had not considered clinical scientist vacancies as an option. Unfortunately there are slim pickings out there and lacking the work experience I would be happy to start in a field service role, where VRCT registration is required. If you have any suggestions on where to start looking I would be much obliged. Thanks.
Fotios
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,020
Hero
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Hero
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,020 |
Fotios, where VRCT registration is required did you mean NOT required. It is not required in the NHS or any other institution but it is an extra string to your bow. On the front page there is a job advert for a trainee biomedical engineer. No matter what qualifications you have, you have to start from the bottom - or at least low down - to gain experience. You cannot do a senior job without knowing what you are doing. Robert
My spelling is not bad. I am typing this on a Medigenic keyboard and I blame that for all my typos.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61
Super Hero
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Super Hero
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61 |
Steady on Robert, you're beginning to sound like me!
If you don't inspect ... don't expect.
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,020
Hero
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Hero
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,020 |
Old age setting in to my grey beard as well.
My spelling is not bad. I am typing this on a Medigenic keyboard and I blame that for all my typos.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61
Super Hero
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Super Hero
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61 |
But the point you alluded to is a good one, all the same. I have seen it (in a number of cases) myself:- and, no doubt, have mentioned it a few times before - "bright young things" (fertile young minds) come along to the workshop, full of confidence (fair enough), full of their own self-importance (not so good), and also full of [censored] ( ditto) ... but armed with bits of paper suggesting that they are Bachelors of this, and Masters of that - then, the next thing you know, they are either pushing the Old Sweat *Manager out of the chair, or (and worst yet) scheming to get the Old Guy put out to graze. Like you, perhaps, I could recount actual cases where scenarios like that have actually been played out. To my mind, stuff like this is just another "unintended consequence" of the New Utopia where "everyone must go to University". "Too posh to push" also comes to mind, for some (probably warped) reason. * Who has of course, come up through the ranks, as it were.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 601
Philosopher
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Philosopher
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 601 |
I echo Robert's point. There is NO requirement to be a member of VRCT or any other organisation to work as a biomed. Some people feel that it gives tham some kind of kudos. There is no evidence that being a member makes you a better engineer. There is no substitute for ability & experience. Employment-wise it might be a good idea to get the addresses of EBME departments and medical equipment suppliers & send out a load of CV's.
BTW, good career choice!
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 145
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 145 |
Two of my colleges band 5 engineers who have degrees in electronics and medical electronics one with 3 years one with 5 experience both compentant engineers are not elageble to join. I am only elageble through grandparenting myself. It seems to me that if the people who fix the equipment are not elageble to join the register is doomed to fail. We don't realy need more academic quailifications and with the current economic climate is it wise to force large amounts of staff to do more study?
My other problem with it becoming compulsarary is that it would have to include engineers in the NHS and in the private sector, because they can do exactly the same repairs after all. It would not make sense for one group of people to require regastration and another group who could may do exactly the same repairs on the same equipment who do not. Nurses and doctors need to have registration regardless of wether they work in the NHS or a private provider.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61
Super Hero
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Super Hero
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61 |
... the best possible, in fact, for the right sort of person - but often not realised for sure until - what - at least five years "in"? Meanwhile, there has been a great deal of empirical evidence that a good indication as to whether the fledgling biomed is likely to be made of the "right stuff" in the long run, is having him (her) make the tea for the rest of the guys for the first couple of months, at least. As I may have said before, the best biomeds tend to be humble souls (quietly confident in their own abilities, and competent enough to carry the work through to completion). Most of the Old Sweats in the game are impressed by attitude, aptitude, general enthusiasm, and a willingness to do the actual work - rather than by bits of paper or what-have-you. In hospitals at least, the work can be (and often is) repetitious. So those who consider themselves "too clever to do mere PM" need not apply!
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61
Super Hero
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Super Hero
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,659 Likes: 61 |
@Webbie: Yes, doctors, nurses (and many other professionals) are required to be registered ... but that doesn't seem to make much difference to the amount of malpractice we constantly hear about, unfortunately. OK ... let's take the example of the hospital biomed, and (for instance) the tech working at a manufacturer's service centre. Perhaps there's a case to be made about the hospital tech "interfacing" occasionally with *patients ... and that's why s/he needs to be "presentable", and with a modicum of empathy, let's say. But "personal characteristics" (human qualities) like this are usually readily apparent, if not at interview then at least "on the job" (or by peer review, if you like). On the other hand, why should the guys working every day at the service agents' workbench be registered? What is to be gained there? They are being employed for their technical (electronics, fault-finding etc.) skills, not their social attributes! After all, some of the best "Genius Guys" I've ever come across were long-haired, scruffy, dudes, wearing T-shirts, swearing a great deal, and engaging in almost constant "outrageous" banter! * If indeed "protecting the patients" is in fact what "Registration" is meant to be all about. I don't know. Is it?
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 145
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 145 |
If hospital techs are being employed for their social skills I'd hate to meet the people who they reject*. I assumed the reason for registration was to make sure that we are appropriate people to repair, calibrate, PM'd ect. This would apply equally to all medical electronic techs.
*I am a hospital tech myself by the way.
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