HTM Week Winner Announced

In today’s edition of the MedWrench blog, I would like to feature our HTM Week contest winner, Priyanka Upendra, as the featured “Guru of the Month”.  I had the pleasure of meeting Priyanka at AAMI in Austin, Texas and she is a great asset to both MedWrench and our industry in general. It is an honor to recognize Priyanka as a MedWrench Guru of the Month. Without users like Priyanka sharing their knowledge and expertise, the forums wouldn’t be the powerful tool that it is today. Thank you for everything that you do to help our MedWrench users Priyanka!

Priyanka Upendra

How did you first hear about MedWrench?

I heard about MedWrench and its user forum a few years ago when I was working as a biomedical equipment technician (BMET). It serves as an excellent resource for an in-house healthcare technology management (HTM) professional – be it preventive maintenance or troubleshooting ideas, or just to stay connected with experts in the industry.

How did you celebrate HTM Week?

Across the clinical engineering shops at Intermountain, we had a fun pizza lunch – thanks to MedWrench for that! Some of our engineers connected with local fire stations, malls, and other places in the community to educate and spread awareness about AED maintenance. A couple of my friends and I educated our kickboxing friends about AED maintenance. This was particularly interesting because we had nurses in our kickboxing class who took that information back to their places of work.

Where are you currently employed? What is your position there?

I am currently employed at Intermountain Healthcare and work as the compliance manager for clinical engineering support services. It is a great team with a lot of talented engineers who strive to provide safe and reliable patient care every day.

What type of equipment do you work on the most? 

In my current role, I do not work on the equipment directly. When I worked as a BMET or a clinical engineer, I worked on non-high-risk and high-risk general biomedical equipment. As a student researcher, I worked on image reconstruction techniques for hybrid imaging modalities.

In your current position do you purchase parts?

In my current role as a compliance manager, I do not work directly with suppliers to purchase parts.

What does your role entail as a compliance manager?

I step in and work with our central depot team, regional operations, IT, and supply chain when it is compliance related or has a cybersecurity concern.

What are some of the best aspects of your job?

I love every aspect of my job and in general, my role in the HTM industry. I wasn’t a big fan of long hours before, but when you find “your reason”, the hours become less significant. We are all caregivers striving to deliver safe and reliable patient care. As a compliance manager, I come across new challenges every day. Working with different teams and subject matter experts helps me look at things from a variety of perspectives, it helps me expand my knowledge base and continuously improve to do things efficiently.

What are your hobbies? 

I really enjoy traveling and exploring new places, that’s an added bonus when you live in Utah, it offers many outdoor experiences. I am developing a penchant for hiking, camping, and kickboxing. When I’m not traveling, I love to cook and experiment with different cuisines, read non-fiction, listen to music, sing, and definitely binge watch movies and TV shows. Also, most of my time is spent bonding and training with my 10 month lab-terrier puppy.

What is one word that describes you the best?

It would have to be “enthusiastic”. That would perfectly describe my attitude towards my profession and otherwise.

What advice do you have to anyone just graduating and entering in the HTM Field?

My advice to new HTM professionals would be to be open-minded and determined. We are in an industry where we have seasoned professionals who are approachable, ready to mentor, and will help you. As new professionals, we need to stop being hesitant, we need to go out network and connect with industry experts, and learn from their experiences. 

To show your appreciation for Priyanka share this blog to your social media accounts!