MedWrench Guru of the Month - Jim Carr

October 2017 Guru of the Month: Jim Carr

In today’s edition of the MedWrench blog, I would like to feature Jim Carr as our “Guru of the Month”.  Jim is an active member of the MedWrench forums and is a big help to our community. You may have seen him answering questions under the username “Jim Carr," so if he has ever helped resolve any of your equipment issues be sure to thank him! MedWrench is thankful for all of our users and we appreciate the extra mile you are all willing to go in order to help one another troubleshoot errors on your equipment. Thank you for everything that you do to help our MedWrench users Jim!

How long have you been a member of MedWrench?   

It has been over 6 years. I joined MedWrench in July of 2011

What aspect of MedWrench do you utilize the most? 

I use the Questions and Answers section, primarily trying to answer questions for people needing help with ultrasound systems. I have also provided some manuals and documents, a limited amount due to US Copyright law.

Are you aware that MedWrench now has a mobile site? If so do you use it from your smart phone or tablet? 

Yes, I sometimes use it from my phone. It had some bugs in the beginning, but it seems to be as good as the desktop version now.

What do you like most about MedWrench? 

It is nice to be able to help people and share my knowledge gained during my 45 years in imaging and ultrasound. And that helps my company to obtain business for ultrasound parts and service training.

What do you think about the new version of MedWrench for your desktop?

I like the general look and feel of the desktop version, and that is what I use the most (since I’m not that great writing text on a phone).

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

I have been employed with Advanced Ultrasound Electronics for about 4 years. My title is Director of Service and International Operations. I am part of AUE’s technical support and quality management teams, lead our field service team, and I helped develop our business in the United Kingdom, AUE Ltd. I develop and present service training programs for both the US and UK companies. Our training courses include the Introduction to Diagnostic Ultrasound and Advanced Service Training on many different models of ultrasound systems. (I wish more of the people looking for help on MedWrench would attend the Introduction to Diagnostic Ultrasound class, or ask some questions BEFORE they start working on a system.)

What type of equipment do you work on the most? 

Since I got into the multivendor medical imaging business 18 years ago, I have worked on many different models of systems. Probably the most elegantly designed system from a service viewpoint I’ve worked on is a Siemens Magnetom MRI system. These days, I am specialized and only working on ultrasound systems. My favorite systems to work and train people on are the GE Logiq E9 and the Philips Epiq 7, which are the latest and greatest systems from those companies. There are still a lot of the Philips iU22 and iE33 systems around, which I call the Evil iBoxes. Those are not exactly easy or fun to work on, Philips made sure of that, and the early hardware versions of those systems can be an imaging engineer’s worst nightmare. As with almost all modern ultrasound systems, once you learn the systems, find out about the “gotchas,” and proactively obtain the important data and tools you need, it may not always be fun but you will enjoy the satisfaction of being able to keep scanners running properly and repair them when they break.

In your current position do you purchase parts? 

I request the purchase of parts and often help with sourcing ones that are difficult to find.

What is your role in the process? 

In addition to finding sources for some difficult to obtain parts, I do a fairly large amount of parts identification. Most ultrasound systems have complicated and sometimes undocumented compatibility issues, with both hardware and software. There may be several part numbers for the same part, and some might be interchangeable and some are not.  In some cases, the OEMs make it difficult to even obtain a part number and most publish service manuals that, instead of having a part number in the parts list, say “call your local [insert OEM name here] field engineer.” GE is about the only exception to that. They actually make service manuals and user manuals, which have almost all the information we need, available through their online documentation library.

What are your hobbies? 

I have been doing so much business travel that I have not been able to do many of my hobbies. My favorite hobby, or at least the “non-business activity” that I try to do as often as possible is being a grandfather to my 2-year old grandson. My wife and I recently moved to be closer to him, and the rest of my free time has been spent trying to organize and doing repairs. I plan to get back to playing my saxophone more regularly this winter, which after being a grandfather would be my second favorite hobby.

What is one word that describes you the best?

Faithful. I have faith in my ability, faith in the company I work for, faith in my wife, and faith in God.

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

My advice is to consider your own abilities, ambition, goals, likes and dislikes, and try to enter the field in a position that best matches those. There are fairly large differences in the type of work life and the effects on one’s home life, depending on the type of job. For example, being in field service can sound glamorous to some people if they haven’t considered all the aspects of it. There will be days when there isn’t a service call to go on and sometimes the travel might be to someplace nice (and that you actually have time to see.) In many cases, a field engineer spends as much time driving (windshield time) and doing paperwork as they do working on the equipment, and they may not even know where they are sleeping tonight when the day starts. A repair tech at a company like AUE, or an imaging or biomedical technician at a hospital will typically have more steady hours and get exposed to a much larger number of problems and variety of equipment. In many cases, getting a first job with a manufacturer as a factory repair or as a field technician will help accelerate the learning curve of a “fresh-out” because they usually have formal and extensive training for their own employees. By their nature, MVS companies typically need people with more knowledge and experience. But some multivendor and independent service organizations can also provide that kind of opportunity for a recent graduate. In fact, AUE is hiring repair technicians for our Tulsa facility and will consider hiring new graduates in electronic engineering technology.

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