In our October feature, “Departments in Transition,” a variety of managers offered suggestions on how to help employees effectively cope with change.

The article stated that in these demanding times, clinical engineering departments face challenges, such as organizational transitions to serve under the umbrella of a new department, increased workloads due to expansion coupled with hiring freezes, and increased pressure to learn new tasks without adequate training.

Ted Barbeau, the director of clinical engineering and safety officer at Saint Mary’s Health System in Waterbury, Conn, and his team participate in projects that boost biomed perception, both inside and outside the department. “I felt there was a lot of untapped potential here,” he says in the article. “We love tinkering with technology, we have lives outside of the hospital, and I thought there had to be a way we could bring that passion into the hospital.”

To avoid adding too much work, each biomed is assigned one “fun” project a year as part of annual goal setting, and interns handle the majority of the work.

What has your department done to smooth transitions or to boost morale and visibility? Sharing your great ideas supports the growth of the profession, so we look forward to your comments.