Where Do You Want to Be? What Do You Need to Get There?

Continuing education is always important in the preparation for your future plans.

After graduating from the biomedical equipment technician (BMET) military program and entering the civilian world, my immediate plan was to enroll in college and obtain an electrical engineering degree. Since I had a desire to eat and have a roof over my head, however, I worked full-time and worked on my degree at night. As luck would have it, the local colleges would not accept most of my college courses transferred from the military; thus, I basically had to start over. After about three years of night school, I lost my desire to become an electrical engineer and decided having fun was more important.

As I got older, my desire for more education shifted from the technical aspect to more of a business perspective. I decided to go back to school — not for the engineering degree as originally planned — but for a business degree in management. The need for education was still there; it had just shifted to a different focus. I enrolled at the University of Texas at Arlington in Business Administration. The first couple of years I took two classes a semester, but I soon realized that it would take me about five or six years to graduate at that rate. After some discussions with my wife (you need to discuss this with family members; they are part of this, also), I decided to take three classes a semester to graduate sooner. I had to make some tough decisions: My involvement in other outside activities — Toastmasters and the North Texas Biomedical Association, for example — had to be cut back to focus on my undergraduate degree.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business management, I again got the bug for more education — this time in certification of computers and networking. This all started while discussing a network layout with a vendor, our Information Services (IS) department and our biomed department. As we talked about the layout of the network and all the technical aspects of it, I actually became embarrassed that I did not understand the conversation. That afternoon, I called a local university to enroll in classes for Microsoft Certified System Engineer. I started the next Monday evening. I took about four or five classes and eventually passed the A+ certification and the Microsoft Networking certification.

Again I faced the question: What is my long-term goal? I love the technical aspect of computers and medical equipment, but my long-term goal was to be the leader of a group that services medical equipment. So once again I came to the conclusion that continuing education was the key, but the focus had to remain in business.

I enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the University of Texas at Dallas. It allowed me to work full-time and go to class full-time (alternating weeks of all day Friday and Saturday classes). This program, along with more obligations at work, has challenged my knowledge of leading and managing my staff. I found the key to this was not more technical knowledge but the additional knowledge gained on how to carry out management responsibilities. Most technical people have the skill set to understand and repair just about anything, but when we move up in an organization our skill sets need to be more people- and process-focused. We can rely on our staff to bring the technical skills to do the work, but we must provide the leadership and business skills to allow them to accomplish it.

Not every BMET or clinical engineer has the desire to become a supervisor or director of a department — and that’s just fine. But as you advance in your career, you will need to evaluate the educational needs required. Continuing education can be as simple as learning more about the clinical side of biomedical engineering, becoming an expert in rules and regulations, or just becoming more of an expert in medical equipment in general. This must be a conscious decision on your part. You have to decide where you want to be in the future and what it will take to get there. You have to understand the time cost to get there (maybe no recreational nights and weekends for a while) and the actual dollar cost to get there. Discuss your plans with your immediate supervisors or directors so they can help steer you in the right direction, and offer you the support and guidance to keep you going along the way.

I have always been blessed to have a management team that supported my decision to advance my education. I believe it has paid of well for both of us.

David W. Braeutigam, MBA, CBET, is manager of Clinical Technology Services at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas. E-mail him at dw.braeutigam@baylordallas.edu.