Bmet Demand And Requirements Are Up

Biomedical equipment technicians or BMETs represent a growing class of technically trained personnel whose primary responsibility is the maintenance and repair of medical imaging equipment such as x-ray, CT scanners, ultrasound, MRI, laser technology and so on. The career path for BMETs appears to be improving as quickly as newimaging equipment} is being developed.

First and foremost, the need for BMETs is expanding. The increase is due to the expansion in new equipment used for medical imaging and technologies that require BMET expertise, and, by the need for income by institutions that own medical imaging equipment. As institutions like hospitals see that downtime on an important piece of imaging equipment affects income generation, there is pressure to add BMETs to hospitals to ensure that all imaging equipment is kept in good condition so that expensive 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) think that the number of BMET jobs in the United States will increase 24% to 31% up through the year 2010.

Historically, BMETs were trained in the workplace. However, as medical imaging equipment technology has increased, so has the need for consistent, quality training. Today, most BMETs have obtained an Associates degree in medical imaging electronics or an engineering-related study. Recently a study by the AAMI found that 62% of all BMETs journeyed on to willingly become certified by the International Commission on Accreditation. ICC Certification for BMETs is a formal acknowledgement by the International Certification Commission for Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology (ICC) that candidates have demonstrated achievement in theoretical as well as understanding of the principles of biomedical technology.

The BMET job description keeps evolving and, as it changes, the requirements dealing with education have started to increase also. The BMET profession has started to follow the trail of lots of other jobs both within and outside of the medical field where increasingly more education is needed to obtain a job and/or excel within a job field.

BMETs report that employers are beginning to make one have bachelor’s degrees for advancement to a higher level or in some cases simply to be employed as a BMET within some institutions. While this requirement might limit the job options for some BMETs serving right now, the good news is that increased educational requirements creates the chance for higher salaries. Studies have determinedshown|found out} that beginning salaries for BMETs are from $20,000-$30,000. However, senior and supervisory positions can command salaries as good as $80,000. The future appears good for future salary growth in this field.

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