More is Required of BMETs

Biomedical equipment technicians or BMETs represent a growing group of technically trained personnel whose main responsibility is the maintaining and repairing equipment that deals with medical imaging like a a CT scanner, ultrasound, x-ray MRI, and so on. The career outlook for BMETs appears to be brightening as rapidly as newimaging equipment} is coming out.

The demand for BMETs is expanding. The increase is due to the expansion in new medical imaging equipment and technologies that require BMET expertise, and, by the need for revenue by institutions that own medical imaging equipment. As institutions such as hospitals recognize that downtime on a piece of imaging equipment affects revenue production, there is demand to add BMETs to hospital staff to make sure that every piece of imaging equipment is kept in good condition so that costly service contracts are used as minimally as possible. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Imaging (AAMI) suggest that the number of jobs available as a BMET in the United States will increase 24% to 31% until the year 2010.

Not that long ago, BMETs were trained in the workplace. However, as medical imaging equipment knowledge has increased, the need for quality and consistent training has too. Today, most BMETs have got an Associates degree in medical imaging electronics or an engineering-related study. Recently an experiment by the AAMI found that 62 percent of all BMETs went on to willingly become certified by the International Commission on Accreditation. ICC Certification for BMETs is an academic acknowledgement by the International Certification Commission for Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology (ICC) that candidates have shown achievement in theoretical as well as knowledge of the principles of biomedical technology.

The BMET job description keeps evolving and, as it changes, the educational requirements have begun to expand also. The BMET job has begun to follow the path of many other careers both in and out of the medical field where increasingly more education is required to serve in a job and/or advance inside a career field.

BMETs report that those who employ them are starting to require bachelor's degrees for advancement to a supervisory level or in a few situations simply to be employed as a BMET inside some institutions. While this requirement might constrain the job options for few current BMETs, the great news is that strengthened schooling requirements creates the chance for higher income. Studies have determinedshown|found out} that beginning salaries for BMETs are from $20,000-$30,000. However, senior and supervisory jobs can get salaries as good as $80,000. The future appears good for career growth in this area.

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Biomedical equipment technicians are seriously wanted to maintain and repair medical imaging equipment. In spite of this, as the demand for BMETs increases, so do the educational requirements.

Author Jesse Fisher enjoys composing articles for his customers including Transamerican Medical, a business that resells Philips Medical equipment and parts. See also the Medical Imaging News site. (Article may be republished online IF all links are kept intact.)

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