- Email: [email protected]
New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group☆
Chapter 64
New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group☆ Ira Sollera,*, Michael B. Mirskyb a
Scientific and Medical Instrumentation, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, United States, bClinical Engineering Solutions Yorktown Heights, Yorktown Heights, NY, United States
Goals The primary goal of the New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group is to provide a local forum for clinical engineering directors in the greater metropolitan NYC area. This organization provides a venue for the directors to meet periodically to informally address common concerns. Such networking among peers is vital in the ever-changing clinical engineering environment (Soller and Mirsky, 2004). In addition to directly benefiting the clinical directors themselves, participation in the group is also beneficial to the healthcare institutions that the directors represent. It allows members facing similar business pressures to interact directly with peers, in the same (or very similar) healthcare provider markets. A secondary goal of the organization is to provide technical/business presentations, in order to assist the membership to stay current with changing technologies in the clinical engineering field, thus providing a means of ongoing education. For more than 35 years, these goals have been met.
History Dr. Seymour Ben-Zvi (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center) and Walter Buchsbaum (Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center) started the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group in the early 1980s. By the 1990s, group literature sent to potential lecturers described the group as follows:
“The New York City Clinical Engineering Directors Group consists of 38 directors of clinical engineering departments, representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. We are directly responsible for managing the medical equipment stock in our respective medical centers. As a group, we are overseeing equipment used for a total of over 25,000 patient beds. Our group is composed of engineers with various backgrounds and experience. Some have doctoral degrees; while others hold master’s, bachelor’s, or associate’s degrees. Some are heavily involved in medical research, while others manage departments that provide a broad range of repair and maintenance services to their facilities. In order for us to keep abreast of this dynamic field, we have group meetings every four to six weeks. A manufacturer or equipment vendor generally sponsors our meetings. A representative from the sponsor provides a technical presentation (definitely not a sales talk) on one of their latest products. The presentation usually lasts about an hour, which includes time for questions and answers.”
AAMI affiliation For several years starting in 1998, the group was affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) when it was granted membership. Ira Soller the organization’s Group Coordinator at that time served on the AAMI Biomedical Organizations Committee. This AAMI committee was open to local, state, national, and international organizations (nonprofit and tax-exempt) representing biomedical equipment technicians, clinical
☆
This chapter provides an example of a local clinical engineering organization and describes its goals, history, affiliations, structure, meetings, membership, finances, ongoing education, speaker program, and networking. * Director Biomedical Engineering—Retired. Clinical Engineering Handbook. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813467-2.00065-1 Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
421
422 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
engineers, or related technical service personnel in an educational or related context that had an interest in medical instrumentation. The Clinical Engineering Directors Group contributed to the AAMI book How to Establish and Maintain a Local Biomedical Organization (AAMI, 1999). Included was a sample meeting announcement (Fig. 1); a confirmation letter sent to the meeting sponsor (Fig. 2); group information and lecture guidelines sent to the meeting sponsor (Fig. 3); and a sample press announcement (Fig. 4).
Structure This organization has no formal structure. There are no officers or dues. The functioning of the organization relies
solely on shared responsibilities. A Group Coordinator arranges for the technical presentation and informally coordinates the meetings. The coordinator also maintains the group membership mailing list and is responsible for group meeting notification mailings. Past Group Coordinators were Dr. Seymour Ben-Zvi (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), Paul Fried (Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center), Ira Soller (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), Leonard Klebanov (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), and Allan Young (New York Veteran Affairs Medical Center). The current Group Coordinator is Paul Frisch (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). The director of clinical engineering at the hospital at which the meetings are held acts as meeting host, reserving a room, providing necessary audio-visual equipment, etc.
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION CENTER January 19, 1999 Dear Colleagues: The next New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Director’s Group meeting is scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 9th at 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Mr. xxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxxx Corp. will sponsor our meeting. A lecture will be given on “Principles of Operation for Vaporizers”. Lunch will be served! The meeting will take place at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, Roosevelt Division, in the Winston’s Conference Room. Enter the new building on 10th Avenue, between 58th and 59th Streets. Take the MAIN elevator to the 1st Floor and walk down the long twisting corridor (toward the Winston building) passing through three sets of doors. Immediately after the third door turn left and stop. Conference Room is on your left. Parking will be available at a reduced rate in the Medical Center’s lot on 59th Street, just West of 10th Avenue in the Concerto Garage. The new building is just a short walk from the lot. Make sure to have your parking ticket stamped by the Security Guard, in the main lobby of the hospital. Please contact my Secretary, Ms. Xxxx via telephone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx, or by filling in the bottom portion of this letter and faxing it back to us at (xxx)_xxxxxxx to confirm your attendance at the meeting. Please respond by Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999. I wish to thank Mr. Mike Mirsky for acting as host for the meeting, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you there. Sincerely, Ira Soller Director, Biomedical Engineering
NAME:
WILL ATTEND
FIG. 1 A sample meeting announcement sent to the membership and the meeting sponsor.
WILL NOT ATTEND
New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter | 64 423
CONFORMATION LETTER SENT TO MEETING SPONSOR
SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION CENTER Jan. 1, 1998 Mr. xxxxx xxxxxx Clinical Sales Specialist xxxxxxxxx Fax: xxx xxx xxxx Dear Mr. xxxxxx: This note is to confirm that you have agreed to sponsor our next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998 at 6:00 p.m. The lecture will be a technical presentation on the “Biophysics of electro-surgery, stray energy and electra shield monitoring”. The meeting will be hosted by Mr. Michael Mirsky, Director of Biomedical Engineering at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital 10th Avenue between 58th & 59th Sts., Phone #xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxxxxx-xxxx.. If you need any audio visual aid, Mr. Mirsky will be able to provide it. A meeting notice specifying room location etc., is enclosed. Also enclosed is information about the New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, and a general lecture outline that may be of some help to you. I am looking forward to seeing you at the meeting. Yours truly,
Ira Soller Director Biomedical Engineering cc: M. Mirsky FIG. 2 A confirmation letter sent to the meeting sponsor.
An attendance list for each meeting that includes the lecture topic serves as documentation should any of the members require proof of continuing education, which might be needed for clinical engineering certification renewal. All participation in the organization is voluntary. The members contribute as their other commitments allow, often by recommending possible speakers and/or topics for future meetings and providing lecturer contacts based on their own experiences at other technical forums that they have participated in to the Group Coordinator.
Meetings When the organization first started, the meeting location rotated among member hospitals. At least one meeting was held in conjunction with the postgraduate anesthesiology
show in Manhattan. Ultimately, the group settled on St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center as the most convenient location for all attendees due to its central Manhattan location. That location proved quite successful, due in large part to Michael Mirsky’s efforts both as host and as alternate Group Coordinator as required. Subsequently, meetings were held at Cornell-Weill. They are presently held at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The meetings, usually held every 6 weeks, typically last for 2–3 h. Initially, they were held in the evenings, but the members determined that a weekday late afternoon time period encouraged the greatest attendance. The meetings are structured to allow for informal conversation, followed by a 1-h technical presentation by an invited vendor or guest lecturer. A formal “group members only” meeting follows after the technical presentation. See group photo (June 3, 2007) (Fig. 5).
424 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
GROUP INFORMATION AND LECTURE GUIDELINES SENT TO MEETING SPONSOR Brief History The New York City Clinical Engineering Director’s Group consists of 38 Directors of Clinical Engineering Departments, representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. We are directly responsible for managing the medical equipment stock in our respective medical centers. As a group, we are overseeing equipment used for a total of over 25,000 patient beds. Our group is composed of engineers with various backgrounds and experience. Some of us have PhD.’s; others Masters or Bachelor of Science Degrees. Some of us are heavily involved in medical research, while others perform more administrative type functions. In order to keep ourselves abreast of this dynamic field, we have group meetings every four to six weeks. Our meetings are generally sponsored by manufacturers who are responsible for making a TECHNICAL PRESENTATION (definitely not a sales talk) by an engineer on one of their latest products. The presentation should be about one hour, with questions and answers. LECTURE OUTLINE 1. A brief history of the development of the type of equipment presented and significant milestones in it’s development. 2. A theoretical presentation of the technology used, i.e. type of sensors, transducers necessary for the functioning of your product, one-of-a-kind design features, etc. 3. Physiological indication for and response to your product. 4. A general block diagram of the product with all major component functions. 5. Different technologies used to achieve the same end with pros and cons of each technological solution. 6. Future advances and theoretical limitations (what is on your drawing board now?). 7. Service information (self-diagnostics, board exchange program, service manuals and service support). FIG. 3 Group information and lecture guidelines sent to the meeting lecturer. PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group Ira Soller
The New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, consists of Directors of Biomedical/Clinical Engineering representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. The group holds biomed society membership status in AAMI. At the Feb 9th meeting, hosted by Mr. Mike Mirsky of St. Luke’s – Roosevelt, Mr. xxxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxx presented a lecture on Principals & Operation of Vaporizers. Subsequent member discussion included sharing of information relating to Y2K including SIIIM, and the FDA public health message dealing with use of “protected” patient cables. The next meeting is scheduled for March 23rd at 2:00 PM. Mr. xxxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxxx will give a lecture on “Principles of Volume & Pressure Ventilation including Pathology”. For information, or manufacturers/vendors interested in making presentations contact: Ira Soller, Director of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave, SMIC Box 26, Brooklyn, NY 11203. Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx, Fax: (xxx) xxx-xxxx. FIG. 4 Press announcement.
Membership Membership is open to all practicing clinical engineering directors working in hospital environments in the NYC metropolitan area. In reality, clinical engineering associate and assistant directors and other clinical engineering supervisors also attend. The limitation of membership encourages frank and open discussion. Members have come from locations in New Jersey, the five boroughs of NYC, Long Island,
Westchester, and other nearby areas. There is no distinction made between directors working directly for a hospital or for a third-party service provider. Manufacturers’ representatives and equipment vendors are not permitted to join. At present, the group includes more than 80 members on its mailing list. This list is considered proprietary and is not distributed outside the organization (never to vendors or manufacturers). Typically, 20%–25% of the membership attend meetings at any given time.
New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter | 64 425
FIG. 5 Clinical Directors Group Photo June 3, 2007.
Finances The organization has no budget, and thus no need for membership fees, dues, or a treasurer. The meeting room and coffee and cake is provided by the host hospital. In prior years the technical lecturer/sponsor underwrote the cost of a modest luncheon (sandwiches and soda, pizza, etc.) but due to ethical consideration, this is no longer the case.
● ● ● ● ● ●
●
Ongoing education The technical lecture portion of the meetings provides the membership with ongoing technical and business training. “The environment in which clinical engineering functions changes daily as new technologies such as telemedicine, robotics, and wireless local area networks (LANs) are introduced into the clinical setting. In this dynamic field, continuing education is the rule” (Soller, 1999). One method of obtaining further education is to attend technical expositions and professional organization meetings such as those of AAMI, the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS). However, as demonstrated by the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, a local organization can fill a similar need, albeit on a smaller scale. Many presentations given directly address diverse areas of medical technology, while other topics such as intellectual property do not. However, all topics are of importance to the group members. Topics included are ●
Challenges of monitoring in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment
●
● ●
Controlled fresh gas delivery IEEE 1073 medical information bus Infrared technology integrated locator systems Infrared thermometry Intellectual property New modes of ventilation in anesthesia delivery systems, and electronically controlled fresh gas delivery Paperless systems Principles of volume and pressure ventilation including pathology Robotics and materials transport Technical advances in monitoring
At the members-only portion of the meeting, members discuss common concerns and diverse topics, a practice that helps them keep pace with changes in regulatory requirements and biomedical standards that impact their operations. The latest Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requirements, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations and recalls, and other regulatory issues are all relevant examples of discussion topics. In addition, general issues relating to departmental personnel and financial management, as well as equipment-specific issues, are addressed during this forum. Members also share information gathered at conferences and lectures or gleaned from professional literature. This friendly and cooperative atmosphere among peers also allows mutually beneficial informal benchmarking. In addition to the interaction that takes place at the meetings, members frequently contact each other outside of the meetings to discuss management technology or other issues related to clinical engineering. The Group Coordinator often acts as a clearinghouse of information, directing member queries to others in the organization who might be able to assist.
426 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
Conclusion
References
When first formed, the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group promised to provide a local forum where clinical engineering directors could network, and also help them keep current with developments in their field. For more than 35 years the group has succeeded in filling both those needs and continues to function as a viable organization, providing support at a local level. For further group information please contact Paul Frisch, PhD, Associate Attending Dept. of Medical Physics, Chief Biomedical Engineering, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center NY.
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 1999. How to Establish and Maintain a Local Biomedical Organization. AAMI, Arlington, VA. Soller, I., 1999. Clinical Engineering. In: Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Vol. 3. Wiley, New York. Soller, I., Mirsky, M., 2004. New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group. Clinical Engineering Handbook. Elsevier Academic Press. (Chapter 132).
New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group☆ Ira Sollera,*, Michael B. Mirskyb a
Scientific and Medical Instrumentation, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY, United States, bClinical Engineering Solutions Yorktown Heights, Yorktown Heights, NY, United States
Goals The primary goal of the New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group is to provide a local forum for clinical engineering directors in the greater metropolitan NYC area. This organization provides a venue for the directors to meet periodically to informally address common concerns. Such networking among peers is vital in the ever-changing clinical engineering environment (Soller and Mirsky, 2004). In addition to directly benefiting the clinical directors themselves, participation in the group is also beneficial to the healthcare institutions that the directors represent. It allows members facing similar business pressures to interact directly with peers, in the same (or very similar) healthcare provider markets. A secondary goal of the organization is to provide technical/business presentations, in order to assist the membership to stay current with changing technologies in the clinical engineering field, thus providing a means of ongoing education. For more than 35 years, these goals have been met.
History Dr. Seymour Ben-Zvi (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center) and Walter Buchsbaum (Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center) started the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group in the early 1980s. By the 1990s, group literature sent to potential lecturers described the group as follows:
“The New York City Clinical Engineering Directors Group consists of 38 directors of clinical engineering departments, representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. We are directly responsible for managing the medical equipment stock in our respective medical centers. As a group, we are overseeing equipment used for a total of over 25,000 patient beds. Our group is composed of engineers with various backgrounds and experience. Some have doctoral degrees; while others hold master’s, bachelor’s, or associate’s degrees. Some are heavily involved in medical research, while others manage departments that provide a broad range of repair and maintenance services to their facilities. In order for us to keep abreast of this dynamic field, we have group meetings every four to six weeks. A manufacturer or equipment vendor generally sponsors our meetings. A representative from the sponsor provides a technical presentation (definitely not a sales talk) on one of their latest products. The presentation usually lasts about an hour, which includes time for questions and answers.”
AAMI affiliation For several years starting in 1998, the group was affiliated with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) when it was granted membership. Ira Soller the organization’s Group Coordinator at that time served on the AAMI Biomedical Organizations Committee. This AAMI committee was open to local, state, national, and international organizations (nonprofit and tax-exempt) representing biomedical equipment technicians, clinical
☆
This chapter provides an example of a local clinical engineering organization and describes its goals, history, affiliations, structure, meetings, membership, finances, ongoing education, speaker program, and networking. * Director Biomedical Engineering—Retired. Clinical Engineering Handbook. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813467-2.00065-1 Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
421
422 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
engineers, or related technical service personnel in an educational or related context that had an interest in medical instrumentation. The Clinical Engineering Directors Group contributed to the AAMI book How to Establish and Maintain a Local Biomedical Organization (AAMI, 1999). Included was a sample meeting announcement (Fig. 1); a confirmation letter sent to the meeting sponsor (Fig. 2); group information and lecture guidelines sent to the meeting sponsor (Fig. 3); and a sample press announcement (Fig. 4).
Structure This organization has no formal structure. There are no officers or dues. The functioning of the organization relies
solely on shared responsibilities. A Group Coordinator arranges for the technical presentation and informally coordinates the meetings. The coordinator also maintains the group membership mailing list and is responsible for group meeting notification mailings. Past Group Coordinators were Dr. Seymour Ben-Zvi (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), Paul Fried (Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center), Ira Soller (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), Leonard Klebanov (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center), and Allan Young (New York Veteran Affairs Medical Center). The current Group Coordinator is Paul Frisch (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). The director of clinical engineering at the hospital at which the meetings are held acts as meeting host, reserving a room, providing necessary audio-visual equipment, etc.
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION CENTER January 19, 1999 Dear Colleagues: The next New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Director’s Group meeting is scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 9th at 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Mr. xxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxxx Corp. will sponsor our meeting. A lecture will be given on “Principles of Operation for Vaporizers”. Lunch will be served! The meeting will take place at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, Roosevelt Division, in the Winston’s Conference Room. Enter the new building on 10th Avenue, between 58th and 59th Streets. Take the MAIN elevator to the 1st Floor and walk down the long twisting corridor (toward the Winston building) passing through three sets of doors. Immediately after the third door turn left and stop. Conference Room is on your left. Parking will be available at a reduced rate in the Medical Center’s lot on 59th Street, just West of 10th Avenue in the Concerto Garage. The new building is just a short walk from the lot. Make sure to have your parking ticket stamped by the Security Guard, in the main lobby of the hospital. Please contact my Secretary, Ms. Xxxx via telephone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx, or by filling in the bottom portion of this letter and faxing it back to us at (xxx)_xxxxxxx to confirm your attendance at the meeting. Please respond by Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999. I wish to thank Mr. Mike Mirsky for acting as host for the meeting, and I am looking forward to seeing all of you there. Sincerely, Ira Soller Director, Biomedical Engineering
NAME:
WILL ATTEND
FIG. 1 A sample meeting announcement sent to the membership and the meeting sponsor.
WILL NOT ATTEND
New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter | 64 423
CONFORMATION LETTER SENT TO MEETING SPONSOR
SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION CENTER Jan. 1, 1998 Mr. xxxxx xxxxxx Clinical Sales Specialist xxxxxxxxx Fax: xxx xxx xxxx Dear Mr. xxxxxx: This note is to confirm that you have agreed to sponsor our next meeting, to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998 at 6:00 p.m. The lecture will be a technical presentation on the “Biophysics of electro-surgery, stray energy and electra shield monitoring”. The meeting will be hosted by Mr. Michael Mirsky, Director of Biomedical Engineering at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital 10th Avenue between 58th & 59th Sts., Phone #xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxxxxx-xxxx.. If you need any audio visual aid, Mr. Mirsky will be able to provide it. A meeting notice specifying room location etc., is enclosed. Also enclosed is information about the New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, and a general lecture outline that may be of some help to you. I am looking forward to seeing you at the meeting. Yours truly,
Ira Soller Director Biomedical Engineering cc: M. Mirsky FIG. 2 A confirmation letter sent to the meeting sponsor.
An attendance list for each meeting that includes the lecture topic serves as documentation should any of the members require proof of continuing education, which might be needed for clinical engineering certification renewal. All participation in the organization is voluntary. The members contribute as their other commitments allow, often by recommending possible speakers and/or topics for future meetings and providing lecturer contacts based on their own experiences at other technical forums that they have participated in to the Group Coordinator.
Meetings When the organization first started, the meeting location rotated among member hospitals. At least one meeting was held in conjunction with the postgraduate anesthesiology
show in Manhattan. Ultimately, the group settled on St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center as the most convenient location for all attendees due to its central Manhattan location. That location proved quite successful, due in large part to Michael Mirsky’s efforts both as host and as alternate Group Coordinator as required. Subsequently, meetings were held at Cornell-Weill. They are presently held at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The meetings, usually held every 6 weeks, typically last for 2–3 h. Initially, they were held in the evenings, but the members determined that a weekday late afternoon time period encouraged the greatest attendance. The meetings are structured to allow for informal conversation, followed by a 1-h technical presentation by an invited vendor or guest lecturer. A formal “group members only” meeting follows after the technical presentation. See group photo (June 3, 2007) (Fig. 5).
424 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
GROUP INFORMATION AND LECTURE GUIDELINES SENT TO MEETING SPONSOR Brief History The New York City Clinical Engineering Director’s Group consists of 38 Directors of Clinical Engineering Departments, representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. We are directly responsible for managing the medical equipment stock in our respective medical centers. As a group, we are overseeing equipment used for a total of over 25,000 patient beds. Our group is composed of engineers with various backgrounds and experience. Some of us have PhD.’s; others Masters or Bachelor of Science Degrees. Some of us are heavily involved in medical research, while others perform more administrative type functions. In order to keep ourselves abreast of this dynamic field, we have group meetings every four to six weeks. Our meetings are generally sponsored by manufacturers who are responsible for making a TECHNICAL PRESENTATION (definitely not a sales talk) by an engineer on one of their latest products. The presentation should be about one hour, with questions and answers. LECTURE OUTLINE 1. A brief history of the development of the type of equipment presented and significant milestones in it’s development. 2. A theoretical presentation of the technology used, i.e. type of sensors, transducers necessary for the functioning of your product, one-of-a-kind design features, etc. 3. Physiological indication for and response to your product. 4. A general block diagram of the product with all major component functions. 5. Different technologies used to achieve the same end with pros and cons of each technological solution. 6. Future advances and theoretical limitations (what is on your drawing board now?). 7. Service information (self-diagnostics, board exchange program, service manuals and service support). FIG. 3 Group information and lecture guidelines sent to the meeting lecturer. PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group Ira Soller
The New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, consists of Directors of Biomedical/Clinical Engineering representing all of the major medical centers in the greater New York City area. The group holds biomed society membership status in AAMI. At the Feb 9th meeting, hosted by Mr. Mike Mirsky of St. Luke’s – Roosevelt, Mr. xxxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxx presented a lecture on Principals & Operation of Vaporizers. Subsequent member discussion included sharing of information relating to Y2K including SIIIM, and the FDA public health message dealing with use of “protected” patient cables. The next meeting is scheduled for March 23rd at 2:00 PM. Mr. xxxxx and Mr. xxxxx of xxxxx will give a lecture on “Principles of Volume & Pressure Ventilation including Pathology”. For information, or manufacturers/vendors interested in making presentations contact: Ira Soller, Director of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave, SMIC Box 26, Brooklyn, NY 11203. Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx, Fax: (xxx) xxx-xxxx. FIG. 4 Press announcement.
Membership Membership is open to all practicing clinical engineering directors working in hospital environments in the NYC metropolitan area. In reality, clinical engineering associate and assistant directors and other clinical engineering supervisors also attend. The limitation of membership encourages frank and open discussion. Members have come from locations in New Jersey, the five boroughs of NYC, Long Island,
Westchester, and other nearby areas. There is no distinction made between directors working directly for a hospital or for a third-party service provider. Manufacturers’ representatives and equipment vendors are not permitted to join. At present, the group includes more than 80 members on its mailing list. This list is considered proprietary and is not distributed outside the organization (never to vendors or manufacturers). Typically, 20%–25% of the membership attend meetings at any given time.
New York City Metropolitan Area Chapter | 64 425
FIG. 5 Clinical Directors Group Photo June 3, 2007.
Finances The organization has no budget, and thus no need for membership fees, dues, or a treasurer. The meeting room and coffee and cake is provided by the host hospital. In prior years the technical lecturer/sponsor underwrote the cost of a modest luncheon (sandwiches and soda, pizza, etc.) but due to ethical consideration, this is no longer the case.
● ● ● ● ● ●
●
Ongoing education The technical lecture portion of the meetings provides the membership with ongoing technical and business training. “The environment in which clinical engineering functions changes daily as new technologies such as telemedicine, robotics, and wireless local area networks (LANs) are introduced into the clinical setting. In this dynamic field, continuing education is the rule” (Soller, 1999). One method of obtaining further education is to attend technical expositions and professional organization meetings such as those of AAMI, the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS). However, as demonstrated by the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group, a local organization can fill a similar need, albeit on a smaller scale. Many presentations given directly address diverse areas of medical technology, while other topics such as intellectual property do not. However, all topics are of importance to the group members. Topics included are ●
Challenges of monitoring in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment
●
● ●
Controlled fresh gas delivery IEEE 1073 medical information bus Infrared technology integrated locator systems Infrared thermometry Intellectual property New modes of ventilation in anesthesia delivery systems, and electronically controlled fresh gas delivery Paperless systems Principles of volume and pressure ventilation including pathology Robotics and materials transport Technical advances in monitoring
At the members-only portion of the meeting, members discuss common concerns and diverse topics, a practice that helps them keep pace with changes in regulatory requirements and biomedical standards that impact their operations. The latest Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requirements, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations and recalls, and other regulatory issues are all relevant examples of discussion topics. In addition, general issues relating to departmental personnel and financial management, as well as equipment-specific issues, are addressed during this forum. Members also share information gathered at conferences and lectures or gleaned from professional literature. This friendly and cooperative atmosphere among peers also allows mutually beneficial informal benchmarking. In addition to the interaction that takes place at the meetings, members frequently contact each other outside of the meetings to discuss management technology or other issues related to clinical engineering. The Group Coordinator often acts as a clearinghouse of information, directing member queries to others in the organization who might be able to assist.
426 SECTION | 6 Professionalism, education, and ethics
Conclusion
References
When first formed, the NYC Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group promised to provide a local forum where clinical engineering directors could network, and also help them keep current with developments in their field. For more than 35 years the group has succeeded in filling both those needs and continues to function as a viable organization, providing support at a local level. For further group information please contact Paul Frisch, PhD, Associate Attending Dept. of Medical Physics, Chief Biomedical Engineering, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center NY.
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 1999. How to Establish and Maintain a Local Biomedical Organization. AAMI, Arlington, VA. Soller, I., 1999. Clinical Engineering. In: Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Vol. 3. Wiley, New York. Soller, I., Mirsky, M., 2004. New York City Metropolitan Area Clinical Engineering Directors Group. Clinical Engineering Handbook. Elsevier Academic Press. (Chapter 132).