Professional Health Blog

Biomedical equipment technicians or BMETs represent a growing division of technically trained personnel whose main responsibility is the maintaining and repairing equipment that deals with medical imaging such as x-ray, CT scanners, ultrasound, MRI, laser technology and so on. The career path for BMETs appears to be improving as fast as newimaging equipment} is being developed.

The demand for BMETs is growing. The increase is fueled both by the growth in new medical imaging equipment and technologies that require BMET knowledge, and, by the necessity for revenue by institutions that own medical imaging equipment. As institutions like hospitals recognize that downtime on a piece of imaging equipment affects revenue generation, there is pressure to add BMETs to hospitals to make sure that all imaging equipment is kept in working order so that costly service contracts are used as little as they can be. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Imaging (AAMI) predict that the number of BMET jobs in the US will rise 24% to 31% up through the year of 2010.

Not that long ago, BMETs were trained in the workplace. But, as equipment for medical imaging technology has increased, the need for quality and consistent training has too. Today, many BMETs have obtained an Associates degree in medical imaging technology, electronics or an engineering-related field. Not too long ago a study 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 a formal recognition by the International Certification Commission for Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology (ICC) that candidates have shown excellence in theoretical and practical knowledge of the principles of biomedical technology.

The BMET function keeps evolving and, as it changes, the requirements dealing with education have begun to increase also. The BMET profession has begun to follow the trail of many other careers both in and out of the medical field where more and more education is needed to obtain a job and/or excel within a job field.

BMETs report that employers are starting to require bachelors degrees for advancement to a supervisory level or in some cases simply to become employed as a BMET within some institutions. While this requirement might limit 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 entrance salaries for BMETs range from $20,000-$30,000. However, higher positions can get salaries as high as $80,000. The future appears good for future salary growth in this field.

Jesse Fisher likes composing articles for his customers which includes Transamerican Medical, a business that buys and sells Philips Medical equipment and parts. See also Imaging Centers online directory. (You may republish this article online IF all links are kept intact.)
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