Medrad's Ted Lucidi's presentation dealt with strategies for reducing costs of repairing ultrasound equipment.
INAUGURAL EVENT DRAWS MORE THAN 60 PROFESSIONALS
In a first for western Pennsylvania, Medrad and Penn State New Kensington joined forces for the inaugural Pittsburgh Biomedical Conference June 1 at the campus.
Organized by Ted Lucidi, technical and clinical support specialist at Medrad, and Myron Hartman, coordinator and instructor for the Biomedical Engineering Technology (BET) program at the New Kensington campus, the conference was geared to biomedical and clinical engineering managers, equipment technicians and biomedical students. More than 60 professionals and undergraduates attended the event that offered career development topics that ranged from healthcare reform to anesthetic vaporizer maintenance.
Biomedical personnel are responsible for servicing medical equipment in health care facilities. Medrad is a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of high tech medical devices that enable or enhance diagnostic and therapeutic medical procedures for computed tomography, magnetic resonance, and cardiovascular applications. Medrad Equipment Service, a component of the global company, provides repair and maintenance solutions for its clients.
Because of its focus on heath care, Pittsburgh has long been a hotbed for careers in biomedical technology. Penn State New Kensington is recognized by the biomedical community as a leader in producing highly-qualified technicians. The BET program boasts a 90-percent placement rate and a majority of biomedical professionals have come from the New Kensington campus.
Besides developing the conference agenda, Lucidi and Hartman were also presenters at the event. Lucidi's presentation, "Performance Assessment of Ultrasound Transducers," dealt with strategies for reducing costs of repairing ultrasound equipment.
Hartman's talk, "Medical Equipment Maintenance in Liberia, Africa," discussed his recent trip to Liberia to train technicians and repair equipment. An offshoot of Hartman's journey to the African continent was a reciprocal agreement to send two Liberian technicians to the United States to develop and maintain skills under Hartman. The technicians arrived in June, are living with the Hartman family, and will be able to acquire the knowledge to teach their fellow technicians at the Liberian hospitals.
In addition to his talk, Hartman moderated a roundtable discussion on medical equipment management standards, and co-presented a topic, "Capital Equipment Replacement Formula," with Garry Weber, one of his second-year students. Weber, who will graduate in 2012, designed a formula to estimate the useful life of medical devices.
For more on the campus BET program, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/Academics/Degrees/bet.html
Biomedical personnel are responsible for servicing medical equipment in health care facilities.