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We Want You: HTM Profession Amid Retirement Exodus

As the inventory of experienced biomeds and imaging professionals is depleted, the effort to replace them is becoming more of a challenge.

Thu Sep 21 2017By Mia DeBiase, TechNation Magazine

As seen in the September 2017 issue of TechNation Magazine

Most large brick and mortar retailers use an inventory system that monitors the stock of items that they sell, and it either reorders automatically or alerts those responsible for restocking. This keeps items on the shelves so that when a customer needs an item, it is available.

Unfortunately, it is not so cut and dry with the HTM profession. As the inventory of experienced biomeds and imaging professionals is depleted, the effort to replace them is becoming more of a challenge. In this case, it’s more than just a matter of disappointed customers who can move on to the next retailer. Patients and clinicians are dependent on a fully stocked contingent of HTM professionals in every health care setting. There is little wiggle room.

The problem is a matter of timing. The second largest sub-population in America are the baby boomers. They are defined as those people born between 1946 and 1964. In 2011, the first of the baby boomers hit retirement age and the entire 76 million are either retired or approaching retirement.

It is estimated that a fifth to a quarter of the entire HTM field will retire in the next 10 years and many already have. This requires a “restocking” of sorts to ascertain that staffing remains at levels that can sustain the demands of every health care system and facility.

Adding to the issue is the stealth nature of the HTM profession; a profession that is so “behind the scenes” that most high school students have no idea it exists and most career changers have never heard of it. At the intersection of retiring baby boomers and this obscure profession lies a challenge that needs to be addressed. How will the restocking work? And, just as troubling, how do you replace on-the-job experience?

“I believe we are starting to see the effects of an aging workforce in HTM. Many employers are recognizing the gap that is coming and a limited supply of incoming technicians,” says Roger A. Bowles, MS, Ed.D, CBET, professor of Biomedical Equipment Technology at Texas State Technical College in Waco, Texas.

“Many people still do not know what a biomedical equipment technician does and we are competing with other higher profile occupations to attract and retain students. This is especially true with high school age students,” he says.

Barbara Christe, Ph.D., program director of healthcare engineering technology management and associate professor in the engineering technology department at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, adds that the concern is also related to academic expectation.

“I believe the profession is facing some hurdles in hiring for today and planning for retirements. Many institutions are not as forward-thinking as they should be; in my opinion. The desperate search for employees has set-aside discussion of academic quality or reputation,” she says.

“The demands for academic credentials for some positions, when these requirements were not prevalent in the past, will continue to challenge HTM professionals who see shifts in credential expectations without pathways to achieve them,” Christe adds.

 

 

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