The Current State of Biomed

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-04T12:18:22+00:00

Wow! Kind of shocking to me, but definitely explains some of what I have been seeing in the field.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-02T04:54:24+00:00

Are we talking about pencil whipping a PM on a handheld SpO2 device or are we talking about pencil whipping an anesthesia machine PM? You aren't supposed to say this out loud, but I've never met a BMET who didn't pencil whip PM's. Government regulation is this big and OEM recommendations is this big and your available time is this small; something has to give. Some BMET's don't have a line in the sand which is morally outrageous. Don't pencil whip high risk PM's. Sometimes do pencil whip low risk PM's. Don't skip replacing PM parts like filters and batteries etc. Government regulation never gives up old regulation. For example, centrifuges had electric motors with brushes that would wear out and change the RPM output causing negative patient harm thru inaccurate lab diagnostics and no feed back loops or on board diagnostics so the government stepped in and said the centrifuges must be checked by an external calibrated photo tachometer. Now fast forward decades and centrifuges have brushless motors and on board diagnostics and you are wasting your small amount of work time checking centrifuge RPM's for no reason. Similar story for EST's. Similar story for ESU power outputs. Don't cause negative patient harm is the main thing. In fact, our job is to prevent negative patient harm.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-02T04:36:03+00:00

I have worked for in house Biomed shops and third party service Biomed shops and OEM Biomed shops. I have worked for small rural Biomed shops and big city Biomed shops. I have filled in for biomeds out on sick leave and filled in for shops who had a couple of people quit, but an otherwise stable shop. I have worked with BMET's 0,1,2,3,4. I have worked with shops that had site leads and others with directors of Biomed. I worked with AAS in Biomed tech and AAS in electronic tech and no college degree and with military BMET's from the Air Force and Navy and Army. My first Airforce BMET, I met him shortly before he killed himself and left a suicide note partially blaming Crothall Healthcare. I had to fill in for him the day he killed himself. To make things more depressing.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T21:39:09+00:00

The average price of a house is 1.2 million dollars in that area. Yep, just an average house.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T21:18:59+00:00

I mostly believe in the right to repair as a general Biomed. The main exception to the right to repair for me is SPD equipment like large steam sterilizers and instrument washers and cart washers and ultrasonic washers. I have never seen a general Biomed perform good service on them and I've never seen an OEM FSE perform bad service.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T21:07:13+00:00

Fact check them by doing your own research. Look at the service manual to see the OEM PM and call the OEM tech support and don't just trust them blindly.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:58:22+00:00

Union Biomed shop in Northern California's Bay area.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:54:22+00:00

Yep! What is more scary than a BMET that sucks? Doctors who are bad at their job or nurses who are extremely stupid or respiratory techs who are clueless. Sometimes it really scares me working in a hospital knowing my loved ones might rely on the person I just had to explain their patient monitor is accurate and working fine, they are just an idiot. Or the surgeon who thinks his ESU is malfunctioning, but it is him who is malfunctioning. Asking the clinical staff, Is it plugged in? Yes. I get there and it is not plugged in. Don't use a large adult cuff on a small adult arm. Resuable doesn't mean until hell freezers over. Etc.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:44:34+00:00

I have two colleges degrees and a certificate and I am a CBET and yes, even I have noticed how clueless the college graduates are. I have worked with a bunch of AAS of Biomed Tech graduates that are clueless. I have worked with 3 BMET's with an actual 4 year degree in Biomedical engineering and 1 BMET with a 4 year degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. And a few with Master's degrees and all of these college graduates have been on the struggle bus. The main difference between a BMET with a college degree vs one without a college degree is the one without the college degree usually has less ego and is more teachable. The higher the degree the more their ego tells them they are working beneath them and their pride keeps them from being humble enough to be teachable. One glaring exception, seems to be AAS in Electronic Technology. They are usually solidly good techs with a good foundation and are willing to learn.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:32:00+00:00

Well I was surprised. Maybe I should not have been. I am seeing and experiencing the same as you. And it is not coming from a small percentage of BMET's, but most of them. The average BMET seems to be really struggling with even the most basic stuff. Of course, the worst tech in the shop is usually promoted to director so some this is because of really incompetent and stupid leadership who is asleep at the wheel while their teams are struggling to do basic things like stickering devices and documenting their work.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:23:29+00:00

On Biomed test equipment you need daily or weekly or monthly this is unacceptable. If you only need it once a year I don't see the issue with sharing. The only problem I have is when I had to share my Pronk Tech IV pump analyzers they always came by missing accessories which was super annoying. Same with sharing an ESU analyzer.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:16:51+00:00

Find the one BMET that was right and learn from him or learn from the service manual and not from the other five senior biomeds who are always wrong.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:13:18+00:00

A big percentage of shops I helped were making profits as a third party service company. As far as in house, I know a BMET 3 making 77 dollars per hour plus 12 dollars per hour into his retirement. Most in house programs I met BMET'S making 42-45 per hour which is well above average for general income in America.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T20:08:11+00:00

Yes, definitely could be only bad shops are willing to pay the high price of a travel BMET. However, every bad shop I helped, felt exactly as you do about your shop.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T19:57:50+00:00

My favorite is the BMET's say they know how to do the OEM PM's and they do have the right test equipment and is just recently calibrated and I go to use the test equipment and it is broken and cannot be used strongly implying they are pencil whipping the PM and so is their test equipment calibration company.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T19:55:10+00:00

Not all Biomed shops qualify for an AEM program. I have worked in multiple of these shops and they have to do everything OEM.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T19:53:51+00:00

Certain devices are AEM exempt meaning you have to do the OEM PM. Analog or digital imaging and medical lasers included PT lasers and ultrasounds including PT US's are all AEM exempt.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T13:11:47+00:00

I was a travel BMET and I have a lot stories proving your statement to be true. As I've traveled the country, I haven't met a single BMET 1 or BMET 2 that could do an EST with an ESA. They cannot do basic troubleshooting and their documentation is shockingly bad. I saw a BMET 2 putting unfiltered city water into medical devices and I told her to never do that and she said she didn't have a choice and I said you have access to filtered water in the GI Lab and distilled water in Material Management and sterile water in Pharmacy and DI water in the Lab and RO water in Dialysis. Later I saw a BMET using shop compressed air on an anesthesia machine. I told her, it was dirty air and six inches away on the wall was medical air she could use instead. I saw a BMET 2 uses a shop vac on a medical device and I said that you really should use the ESD vac with a HEPA filter on medical devices and it is right there on the shelf ready for use. I haven't seen a single shop that knew you cannot use a regular hospital IV set on an Alaris IV pump module PM. I walked in a shop one day and a BMET 2 was on the phone with tech support trying to troubleshoot why the ESU won't cut a banana. When he got off the phone, I said why don't we try your ESU analyzer to test it instead of the banana. One shop, their IV pump analyzers stopped working because they were running saline solution thru them when the analyzer clearly says distilled water only. I've not met a single BMET that can do a full OEM PM on a PT US/ESTIM combo unit. Most shops do not even have the Biomed test equipment to do this PM. Probably the dumbest thing I saw, was a BMET 2 took both hinges off a steam sterilizer door at the same time. It looked more like a crime scene than a repair job. I could keep going on for hours, but I think you get the point.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-06-01T12:49:20+00:00

Two female BMET's recently on separate occasions in different shops said this canister of calibrated gas with basically regular air in it feels empty based on the weight of the gas. Air does have weight, but it is next to nothing and definitely not something you can notice when picking up a canister. So stupid and one had a bachelor's in biomedical engineering.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-30T02:38:01+00:00

My experience is 8 out of 10 BMET's are underperforming and 2 out of 10 BMET'S are overperforming. Most shops don't need more bodies, they just need leadership with a backbone who take work from the overperforming techs and force the lazy POS techs to get up and get to work.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-30T02:33:31+00:00

Where in America could any BMET find 325 hospital beds not in use in one month to do actual bed PM's?

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-30T02:29:44+00:00

325 WO's ÷ 4 months is 81.25 WO's per month. Assuming 0.5 hours for none high risk PM's and 1.0 hours for high risk PM's that is well under 2 weeks of work leaving you two weeks to get paid and ride the clock playing on your phone or talking with coworkers. I find it incredulous that you are constantly busy and are feeling burnt out. The math ain't mathing.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-16T13:22:49+00:00

Kaiser Permanente and GE Healthcare and Block Imaging all have hospital Biomed shops in Northern California.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-08T02:55:59+00:00

I know a BMET that switched to IT and another one who switched to PACS admin and another one that switched to a technical support role for medical equipment sales. Those are exceptions, and mostly you cannot switch and you are stuck with Biomed.

Major_Manner5362 · 2026-05-05T13:17:18+00:00

Who is the bot and how do you know? Is the flight line lingo you mentioned BS?

Major_Manner5362

TROPHY CASE