Bearded Biomed

Women In HTM

March 29, 2023 Chace Torres/ Heidi Horn/ Barbara Maguire Season 2 Episode 18
Bearded Biomed
Women In HTM
Show Notes Transcript

I sit down with two accomplished women in the HTM field to discuss their journey and insight of the Biomed field. It is not lost on us thateach year our demographics within the field diversify for the better. I say its cause for celebration as we cap of the month of March. No matter where you come from or what anyone says you can or cannot do women continue to lead the way within our field. Thank you to all our women Biomeds out there!

And May The Metaphorical Beard Be With You!

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Chace Torres:

My beard ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to an all new episode of your favorite show the bearded biomed. I am your host Chace and today we are joined on now what is marked as a future endeavor for every year of the show, we are going to be celebrating women leaders, women in the HTM field in general. I'm joined by two guests today, Heidi and Barbara who are going to let us know their journey. We're going to discuss trends with more women entering the field, which is gotten quite fascinating over the past year just by a couple metrics that have been measured through different sources. And let's let's talk about what we all want to see more is more women entering the field celebrating than entering the field. And, Barbara, if you want to start off, I'd love to learn about your journey, where you come from and what led you here for today.

Barbara Mcquire:

So my name is Barbara McGuire. I'm Vice President for healthcare technology management with ISS solutions. And ISS Solutions is a company which provides htm and CMMS consulting services throughout the United States. We're based in New Jersey. And we're owned by Geisinger Health, which is our parent company, which is a large health system based in Pennsylvania. I've been with ISS solutions for 11 years now. And really enjoyed all of the support that I've gotten there, as well as support for other women at ISS solutions. I started my career Sue, a wonderful graduate program, which is now at University of Connecticut at the time, it was with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a program out of Connecticut, that allows students to earn their graduate degree while they're doing an internship at a local hospital. And I'm proud to say we now support the program and have two interns currently working for us. But I started in that program, and then worked at other health care systems in Boston, and New York, as well as some other independent service organizations, and then started at ISS emissions, originally as Director of Quality, making sure that, you know, all our programs were compliant with regulatory issues and doing audits on them, and then worked my way up to oversee operations. And then last year, also took over our commercial htm services. So it's been a great journey. And I've really enjoyed the support that I've gotten on that show, folks,

Chace Torres:

What about you, Heidi,

Heidi Horn:

Thanks Chace for having me on. Again, appreciate it and glad to be here. So my title currently is vice president of healthcare industry solutions at Nuvolo. And I've been there for about four years. Prior to joining Nuvolo, I actually kind of started out in a roundabout way, my my career is much different than most folks in HCM. And it started out as I have a master's in marketing a journalism degree. And I was actually doing some work as a director of marketing somewhere and decided to go take a position in the newspaper that had said they were looking for somebody to sell services that company and health system I worked at outside of the health system, so they wanted to actually have a for profit Outreach Division. And I signed up and interviewed and applied and everything got the job as their business development manager, selling these clinical engineering services outside of the health system. As my career kind of went on, we started needing more and more folks to do what actually grew like gangbusters. So the business grew. And we need more and more people to kind of go out and do some of the services that we needed, done, you know, maintenance services. And so they put me in charge of the V Mets then at that point in time, so when I was not only doing sales, but I was also managing the team that was servicing our non own hospitals. And that just kind of again, continued to grow and grow and grow, continue to get promoted until ultimately I became the vice president of healthcare technology management for a 22 hospital health system. So again, my background was not in htm but more of a, you know, marketing strategy, that sort of role and had a great career though and, you know, great team to rely on provide me with the kind of the technical bandwidth that was needed, but and I supplied them with the strategy and business acumen and all of that. So again, my career is a little bit different than most, but it's been, it's been fun and proud to say that, actually, I'm gonna be taking a little career twist here soon. I know, I shared this with Barbara, but, you know, putting my shingle up and looking at doing some consulting work. So anyway, so I'm kind of looking forward to that next journey as well.

Chace Torres:

Both of you have led very interesting careers. It's interesting, too, that it's stemmed from a ISO perspective as well, ISO as well. So for those of you listening, not knowing what ISO is independent service organization, it's kind of a, it's a little bit different, right, coming up through that way than just coming from in a house position. Because it seems like we have so many more hats to wear. And just going and listening to your journey. It seems very much so that you have taken more and more on and what led you here today, Vice President roles. And it's, it's refreshing, though, because that's what we want to see more of is more women leading the charge, taking endeavors that you know, inspire the next generation to say, hey, they're doing it, I can do it, too. When I'm speaking to some my younger Tech's you know, it's obviously you want to become the master of your realm, be professional at what you're doing. But you also want to set goals for yourself. And by setting those goals, it holds you accountable, and also gives you something to aim for, obviously, I have a particular technician right now that she's only been in the field for a little over two years now. But I can see her growth through where she started to where she is now. And we're having that discussions. And so we're getting into those performance reviews during the year as What do you want to accomplish next? What is your goal? And I guess for the younger listeners out there, the the females that are either currently in a biomed program, or those that have just started their journey. I imagine you guys are a plethora of just wisdom at this point. What are some tips, tricks, suggestions, just words of wisdom that we could give some of these young ladies to elevate them to that next level,

Barbara Mcquire:

always important that you have supervisory experience. So talking to your manager about how you can get, because I think that's often the biggest thing that you need to get to the next level of management, not just the technical expertise, but you also need to have experience supervising others and be comfortable with doing. So even if they might be, you know, more knowledgeable on a particular technical field, and maybe they're more knowledgeable and imaging equipment than you are, but you can still manage someone, you know, by learning from them. I think that this supervisory aspect is just really important to be able to

Heidi Horn:

bring up a good point, Barbara, you know, I managed at one point 120 folks that were reported up through me, and one of the things I think a lot of people don't understand are the differences between management and being a technician. And it's a completely different level of skill sets and everything else. And just because you were a great technician doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a great manager. And you have to understand what you know, your temperament and how you work with people. And, and if maybe that's not skill sets you have you know, as Barbara pointed out, you should learn. And so those mean, they are learned skill sets that you can figure out, but again, when things that we thought were people were looking to, you know, work their way up into management, and didn't always kind of go well, they became very dissatisfied with being in the management realm and actually wanted to go back to being a technician because they didn't like it. You have to you have to really be willing to deal with a lot of people issues and management and not everybody wants to do that. So we found that out the hard waste.

Chace Torres:

Management is one of those things that you get better with doing it. I mean, I would assume everybody in a management position today would say you're still learning how to be a better leader every day. You know, and every Everybody leads differently, everybody responds to leadership differently. You could have somebody that's very, you know, they just like to have everything just laid out for them and others they are pick it up and go with it, you have to be able to know how to navigate different personalities on your teams. And I can only imagine, you know, managing top down from all the people that you had under you at that time. I can't even that's, that's bewildering to me. But at the same time you did it, and you kept going with it. And like I said, with the, the Navigating aspect of just leadership in general. It's, it's for some people, and it's, it's not for others, some people just would rather do the work. And I mean, that's why we all got into the HTM career field to begin with, because we wanted to make that that impact, the impact factor of, you know, elevating patient care and securing patient safety. So regardless whether you're a manager or not, you're still making an impact on that front. But for those that definitely want to succeed, I guess it does seem, you know, it'll benefit you more coming from a woman's perspective, showing that you do have that that supervisory role built into you just show that I can lead, I can do it with the best of them. And I can also make sure to elevate you as well.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah. All right. Yeah, it

Heidi Horn:

does make it tougher, because, you know, right now, you know, depending on which survey, you look at, I saw 24/7, this had about 22% of all the respondents in the last salary survey were female, Amy saying that the number is probably closer to just the 12%. You know, because again, you're looking at respondents versus the headcount. But whatever it is, you're still predominantly male dominated field. And so with that, when I started again, and and this has changed dramatically, so thank goodness, but in 1998, when I got into htm, you know, it was I had one female on staff with. And so there was, you know, out of 100 100 plus people, there was one other female other than myself, who was leading the organization. So, when I became vice president, and I was only 38 years old, when that happened, I remember we had quite a few older gentlemen on there who were, you know, set in their ways a little bit, and, you know, weren't quite sure who was who, you know, again, with my background as well. But there was one guy and I just love this guy. I mean, well, I'd say I just absolutely loved him, you know, an old curmudgeon. But he insisted on calling me sweetie all the time. It was like one of those things like and every time he saw me, he's like, Hey, sweetie. And I was like, Ronnie, stop calling me sweetie. And it never would. But, you know, those are some of the things that again, this is going back 20 years, that were a little different, that I think those things have changed, where those just those mindsets where, you know, that's how we were, we were the girls on the

Chace Torres:

evolution of the workplace. Yeah.

Heidi Horn:

And thank goodness for that. But yeah, has changed. So, but I didn't, you know, I don't know if I review ever did, had to deal with that. But I did have to deal with a lot of, you know, what, I don't really call it sexism or whatever. But it was it was definitely alive and well.

Barbara Mcquire:

Right? No, I think that the whole workplace, not just for women, but for a lot of people has changed. And thank goodness, because I think it's much more widely accepted now that comments like that are just not okay. Whereas it used to be, you know, if we complained about something like that we might be seen as, you know, rocking the boat or, or complaining, whereas now, it's sort of accepted that, you know, you should treat everyone in the workplace respectfully, adjust them respectfully, and that that really mad that it's not a small thing, but it can affect the way everyone you know, the whole dynamic of the workplace, if, if you let those types of things go, you know, it can affect how everyone relates to one another. So, I think having, you know, sort of that acceptance of what's okay in the workplace and what's not, definitely helps women, because you don't want to be seen as the one complaining. If, you know, inappropriate comments are made and someone else, particularly a male or someone in a leadership position, you know, calls it out on your behalf. That certainly helps tremendously. And that's been my experience in organizations where I've worked with nurse who set the tone whether they be male or female, but leaders who set the tone of respectful conversation and, and really, you know, call out that kind of behavior and just say, you know, it's not going to be accepted, that really, you know, helps women. And I've had a couple of instances where, you know, there's been outright cases of sexual harassment, and the way organizations deal with that, I think, also, you know, shows their attitudes. So if if there's a hesitancy to kind of, you know, get involved or investigated or, you know, did that really happen or are not protecting the person who's was complaining, you know, that can really affect people's confidence, not just the person that happened to but others who see how it's handled. And it can discourage women from, you know, continuing in that way. So, I think those changes have certainly helped not just for women, but for many groups that are underrepresented.

Chace Torres:

It will I imagine, just based on what you guys have experienced, you know, over the past 20 years, there's been a large shift in the culture of how the dynamics between male female, especially in the biomed field, like you said, being male dominated, have improved for the better. You know, I know many female colleagues that they all have stories, everybody has something that was either, you know, uncomfortable for them, or, you know, made them strive to be where they are today, And they overcame. I'm curious about just if you guys have any stories to share, but before I do that, just one of the common things, that I still hear a lot, which it's in a joking manner, but men in our field love to mansplain to female technicians sometimes. Yep. Oh, then perhaps you don't understand. See, mansplaining is when a man explain things to a woman, like she's stupid. And, you know, we all receive the same kind of training, I know many female technicians that could just walk me to the park and just outdo me with their technical savvy. There's some incredible women out there that are doing above and beyond the scope of what Obama is capable of. So I'm just curious, do you guys have any particular things that you can recall over your, you know, experience as a female biomed that came up that just kind of, we can take a look at, that's where it used to be. And this is where we are today. Right?

Barbara Mcquire:

That the mansplaining example cracks me up, and that's great. But But yes, I mean, definitely, you know, anyone wants help, right? And if you're asking for help, then that's when the next explanation should be offered. But yeah, there's definitely a tendency to, you know, have some to assume that you don't know things and certain concepts have to be explained to you. And then, you know, there's always the physical aspect of people assume like, oh, well, I won't give you that assignment. Because that might be too strenuous, you know, do a particular part of the job, because it's too physical. So yeah, so I've definitely had that happen.

Heidi Horn:

Yeah, and I think sometimes, you know, in htm, at least some of the female technicians, I've talked to you about this feel like they can't ask questions. They don't want to be seen as not knowing the answers or, you know, and so they must refrain from that. And I, you know, that would be one thing, I would say, don't do that. If you have questions, ask questions. And, you know, get the answers that you need to do your job. You know, the mansplaining thing? Yes, you hear about that? And I, you know, I don't know if I see that that much, much now. Because, again, I think that there has been enough females come into the industry and prove themselves and prove their abilities, that it's not seen as unique as it used to, obviously, you still have about 80% At least, if not more, that are men but the females that are coming up, you know, there are Barbara, myself, you know, there you can Samantha jocks and Clearin The list goes on and on our you know, there's a lot of female leaders in htm. Now, so, you know, there's not as much but again, you know, just going back to his story of mine when I when I was promoted to vice president. I remember having a conversation with a co worker actually who I had been promoted over and you He basically just said, Well, you got that job because you're a woman. And that was, you know, I remember thinking, wow, this is what you know, I mean, that was that came out of that person's mouth. So I remember, you know, at that point in time, you're like, Well, you have to prove them wrong. So that mean, that's, you know, and so that I set out, it will prove them wrong, that, you know, I deserve this job and, you know, really made it a mission of mine, and make sure that my htm department was one of the top performing departments in the United States, as far as I was concerned. And, you know, it proved that got involved with Amy and did a lot of things and very heavily involved in htm on the AMI side now. So, you know, those are some things that sometimes, you know, I think as females, we feel like we do have to work a little harder to prove them wrong, that we can do it. And we do have the abilities and just as much as you know, again, No, nobody's saying we're better than men, we're just as good as.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, and I think that whole idea hiney of proving them wrong, is a great attitude to have, because a lot of times, it's people not knowing you individually, and just making assumptions that Oh, because you're a woman, you know, how could you be my supervisor? How are you going to know what I'm doing. And, you know, I think it goes back to just treating people respectfully and being honest with them. And that's something I've always tried to do in leadership positions that I've had. So even if I don't know that person, person's, you know, particular daily struggles, or what they're dealing with on their job on a daily basis, you can set expectations, you can ask them, you know, what you can do to provide them resources to help. And you can, you know, set those goals and still, you know, supervise them or oversee what they're doing. And if they feel like you're treating them, honestly, I think that's, you know, the most important thing, that we have a shared goal to improve patient safety, and, you know, kind of how are we going to get them together? And then I think once people, you know, know, you and know that you're working towards the same goals, and they, you know, gain that confidence, and then the stats.

Chace Torres:

Very various do I think, for one, the gentleman that made that comment, typically, in my experience, the ones that point at you got this, because of that are failing to see the shortcomings of their own, their own provided work. The most successful people aren't looking at what other people are doing. They're focused on what is going to make them feel rich, what's going to benefit them? What's going to benefit others, they aren't looking to, you know, take something for somebody else. And I think we're doing a pretty good job within the field of, you know, acclimating that mindset. You alluded to some of the demographics, like from AMI and 24/7 XHTML survey, and like save respondents is a little bit different than actual demographics that Amy could do. However, the fact that when I spoke to Kerry about the survey, those respondents doubled from the year prior, right. So that is still a tell signed to me, saying that more women are getting involved. And, you know, simple things such as an htm salary survey, there are more subscribers. Adding to channels like my own, I know Justin was going over his subscribers and his female uptake has gone way larger over the past five years that he has, it's interesting that he has that that data that he could pull from, that's encouraging. A lot of the college programs, several other ones I've spoken to, they're seeing more female interaction with getting into the career field. The talent pool, myself and several other managers just across the DFW area have seen more female applicants, which is also encouraging. It used to be back in the day, you know, if you just solve if you just had one technician reach out to you and she's female, you want to give her every opportunity just to because it was so much of a rarity. You wanted to give her every opportunity to sit down and interview because it was kind of like I'd say it was almost a unicorn at some times, just because there wasn't that that many to pull from. And nowadays, I think we've already interviewed two or three within the past month. But that's fantastic that right there is just from personal experience that I can plainly see. I think what we want to do within the field, obviously, is build awareness. But we also want to diversify the field. Right? The days of the over 50, white male dominating the biomed field are slowly changing. We have more Ness, more ethnicities, a slowing but growing addition in gender. When I when I think of how to diversify the the workplace, and, you know, seeing this, how you, you, yourself have been in positions to, you know, impact that I'm just curious, how can current managers and just people within positions of power as htm leaders help diversify our current workplace? And before you answer that I got another sound that I've worked out for today. I could be wrong. But I believe diversity is an old old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. I love Anchorman.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's a challenge, definitely, because we know it's a challenge getting people in general into the HTM field. But certainly trying to, you know, like, recruit in different places, encouraging women to apply in programs, you know, assume is middle school and high school, Amy has a great tool out there that htm in a box that I've used several times to present to high school and community college programs. And I think it does help when, you know, people in the audience see a woman presenting it, and they're like, Oh, I could see myself doing that. Absolutely. I think it's also important to talk to your supervisors, and make sure your supervisors are, you know, trying to increase their pool. So we definitely, you know, had some areas and some shops that I've worked in, where if there wasn't a woman already there, the supervisors mindset was kind of like, oh, well, I don't want to hire her, I don't think she'd be comfortable on this. So not only is the decision for that person, you know, it might be challenging, yes. But give them the opportunity. If they're applying, obviously, they know what they're in for. So I think it's that sort of, you know, paternalistic, like, well, I don't, I wouldn't want to put her in that atmosphere, well, whatever that atmosphere and then support her, make sure that she knows that we are going to provide the training and tools that she would need to succeed, you know, check in with how it's going. And make sure that that atmosphere is going to be conducive to someone learning. And that goes not just for women, I mean, we've had some shops where you know, if someone is new, or even for other underrepresented groups, that they might, you know, have a hard time. So you have to fix those things in your shops first, and make sure that those groups, you know, understand the standards that you expect everyone to be treated professionally, and then making sure that you support those women once you do hire them. So checking in with them. And I don't know, I kind of shy away from doing like women only support events in our organization. But I do check in with the women who are there to see what would help them because sometimes it's better to do it kind of quietly and just let them know that they have a resource they can ask questions of or say, you know, I was in the situation, how could I have to know that, you know, even if they make the mistake, that they're going to be supported. And that can be done by male or female leaders, but you know, just making sure that then they know they have your support and then having that support can give them greater confidence and then results in greater success for you and

Chace Torres:

I like that you don't you don't need to make an event of something. Just establish a support system. I think that's I'm a put that in my my back pocket.

Heidi Horn:

JC we've mentioned earlier about you know, we are in a labor shortage right now. So, you know, expanding the pool of people we're pulling from, you know, across the board is needed. We can't just be looking in the same old place. You said you said it you know the the white men whenever we have to expand out and look at other sources of you know, Bringing talented people into the HCM community as we need it. There's usually a shortage right now. So I know Amy has been

Chace Torres:

this is this is before people are going to retire too.

Heidi Horn:

Right? Exactly. So Amy has been working very hard on their technology management console, they do have a chaired that committee last year, but they have a diversity committee as well, where they're looking at how do they expand, you know, diversity in HCM, you know, across the board. And so there have been some great inroads in that. And I think we need to work on that making sure we get the word out across all communities and ethnicities, and whether it's male, female, whatever, making sure people know about htm, and appreciate what ischium has to offer, because it's a great career.

Chace Torres:

I think there's a lot of I think the biggest thing for me, is the field in general needs to take accountability of itself. And one of the biggest things that I see an issue with with building the labor force building awareness is many bio meds within the field says, Well, Amy is doing it, so they got it. Amy is just one piece of the puzzle. I wouldn't be here doing this today with you. If Amy was doing it all, Justin wouldn't be doing what he's doing. And Ryan wouldn't be doing what he's doing shrill wouldn't be doing what she's doing, there is an inherent need of engagement within the HTM field, too. And I'm not asking everybody to go out and get a YouTube channel or there's there's so much that you can do just in a local basis, by going and speaking at schools going and just informing folks of what you do and why it's important. submitting articles to a lot of the different publications out there. And a lot of the folks that are doing that are also the folks that are also going to be leaving us probably within the next 10 to 15. So a challenge that I issued to everybody, male, female, what have you is, take a look at yourself, and have you done anything to help fix the issue that we currently see within our field. It doesn't take much. Just any little bit of support will get us over that hump that we inherently know is coming.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, definitely. I think that's a great point. And I mean, even you're talking about gaming, and people think like, oh, Amy's gonna take care of that. Well, Amy is all of us as well. And it relies heavily on volunteers, working on the various committees, working on standard organizations. And, you know, I've had the pleasure to work on several of those. And I've met the greatest people and made great connections with colleagues that now I reach out to when you know, I'm working on a project that's new, or looking for ideas of how to sell. So it's a great resource, but it also involves, you know, volunteering and being

Chace Torres:

right. Well, they see the whole of it. Amy isn't just for biomed, Amy covers so much more than just htm field. Like, we get like a little slice, which is Danielle and her team. And I'm obviously the committee's that are signing up. But when you compare that to the whole of what Amy is covering for standard standardization. It's not I'm not saying it's not enough, I'm just saying that people could contribute and I'll make even an even greater impact than, you know, some of the the things that they're implementing such as ATM and HDMI in a box.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, definitely. Yes. And I mean, the work that you're doing, and you mentioned Justin Barber as well. We haven't come to our ISS solutions, all company meeting last year and speak to our biomass and it's just very energizing hearing someone like him who's you know, using all these social media and online tools to provide education, you know, share solutions to problems. You know, all of you are just such a great resource to buy a match, especially those who might be out in the field or out of the remote hospital and not get the opportunity to attend a bid meeting or even a local environment chapter. It's a great way to engage and also learn a lot. You know, there's so many resources out there we can.

Chace Torres:

Absolutely. So, before anything else for our younger female listeners are there. What we alluded to are Earlier in the in the when we were speaking in the beginning that you don't have to know everything. Typically the first thing I tell when I'm either interviewing or onboarding a new technician is just being humble and knowing that you don't know everything. Even myself, I've been in the field almost 15 years, I'm still learning something new almost on a daily basis, our field requires that we are constantly adaptable and changing to whatever we may face. We're going to come across new modalities, we're going to come across a particular facility that requires certain type of reporting, DMV, Joint Commission, what have you, there might be certain systems or culture that need fixing within a facility, we're always going to have something that we need to adapt to. So I'm never going to hold a technician to, you know, I just expect you to get it lickety split and be the master of your realm right away. I just want you to be ready to learn and a sponge. That's my takeaway for any young technician. I guess, for y'all do you have anything that's like your go to what you, you know, let a new tech, you know, try to learn as they get into the field.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, that's definitely something that we look for, as well, you know, someone who's, who's willing to learn, and also someone who's, you know, going to take some time to learn on their own as well. So that's why some of those resources you mentioned, they're great. You know, we certainly invest a lot in training our technicians, so we expect them to, you know, want those opportunities and increase those opportunities. And I think, particularly for young women technicians, you want to seek out those opportunities for training, either through your employer, you know, you should be asking your supervisor, here's something I'm interested in learning, how can I get to train them on that? Or even just approach a more senior tack at your facility and say, you know, how can I shadow you and learn more about what we're doing? Yes. And then, you know, seeking out more formal training, you know, does your organization have tuition reimbursement? Can you get another degree? Are there certifications? You could pursue this zone? Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

Chace Torres:

scary. Survey was alluding. There's been an uptick in people going out get their certifications or degrees over the past year. I'm like, Yes, that's what we need more of, right? Those credentials are what gives us our foundation of credibility across anybody that we deal with, whether it's from a regulatory standpoint, or from a Eisah perspective, showing that we can provide value, which is the hardest thing from a third party perspective, getting into a hospital system, and showing them that, hey, not only can we do what you need us to do, but we can exceed your expectations. credentialing.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, those credentials are so important, and we encourage, you know, our technicians to pursue those. But I think particularly for women where you know, you, it gives you more confidence, it shows that you've invested in your career and your professionalism. So when you're applying for that next job, or even at your current employer, you know, they say, you're serious about this, you're willing to invest your own time as well.

Heidi Horn:

Yeah, I totally agree. And I think, you know, again, just I want to stress those certifications. While they're usually not required by any employer at this point in time, you know, I do see it day where they might be, and I just again, I think that that's something that gives you credibility, whether you're male or female. So, you know, something that shouldn't be pursued. Obviously, you know, you kind of alluded to a chase where, you know, there's a whole right to repair and are, are the non manufacturer technicians qualified to work on equipment. And again, having those certifications obviously shows that you are well trained, you've gone through, you know, a series of tests and all that. And so you're you are qualified. And so I think it becomes more and more important, again, in the world today for certifications to be looked at. And I would just highly encourage people to take those seriously. Because eventually, I see it becoming more the common, you know, it'd be fewer people without them, I guess, is where I'm going with this one. So do it now.

Chace Torres:

Oh, let's be frank, but then our field. It only builds on it doesn't take away, right. I mean, nowadays, more ISO companies, for instance, are going after certification. So, you know, our company made a point to go get our 9001 So companies are going after their 1345 Back in the day, that wasn't a sought after thing that everybody thought they need. had to do. But like you said, what the right to repair movement and then regulatory compliance become a more and more critical cyber security, like there's just more that we need to have set in place. So it's all I don't know if it's gonna get to this point. But can you imagine if we have to be, I don't know the correct term, but like for electricians or couple of those trades, crafts, having like a state certification almost, to to be able to perform the job. It's not unheard of that that could be become a possibility in the future.

Barbara Mcquire:

Right. Yeah, that could be some sort of licensure requirement. And I agree with Friday, like, even though there isn't that requirement now, you know, we encourage our technicians to get certified, we do have a few clients who insist that we have someone certified servicing their facility. And your we support our technicians, providing training, paying for the cost of the test, and then we offer a bonus as well, for those who achieve their certification. So I think it's something that's really important. And I think for our technicians that are still in the process, or haven't yet gotten certified, they certainly have the knowledge to pass it, I think it's just putting in the time, you know, maybe you have to study some things you have looked at in a while. And it's pretty again, the time to get, but I do think it's really important, and it elevates the field. And, you know, it also kind of counters that argument that we're completely unregulated. You know, it's just some of the arguments that the manufacturers in the right to repair movement. We certainly have technicians who are, you know, just as qualified, just as knowledgeable as manufacturer. And I think having that additional credential and just reinforces that

Chace Torres:

I, I think we dropped a lot of Jim's it's, it's been a very knowledgeable episode, just getting to sit with you all. And, you know, pick your brains a little bit about your journey here. Before I let you go, typically, during the show, I have a couple of segments that just kind of, alright, we hit all the serious stuff. Let's let's have a little bit of fun. So got two segments for either pretty quick, they're more of just say, a question, so I'll hit the first droopy or not droopy? So to be or not to be basically is a question I posed to you. I started this early last year, all biomed IDs are inherently nerdy in one way or another. And the idea came to me one day is if I could take any function of a medical device, and that is my superpower, what would it be? So I propose that question to you.

Barbara Mcquire:

Definitely X ray.

Heidi Horn:

X ray vision.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, absolutely.

Chace Torres:

I've had some very interesting ones some.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, to be able to see and to you know, through loss and Center building what's going on there?

Heidi Horn:

Yeah, that's a good one. I don't know. Like, I agree with y'all. Now I'm trying to think of like what other one other function like speed or maybe, you know, supercomputer has Brainiac type of thing that some kind of medical device I don't know.

Chace Torres:

Maybe like a PAC system was

Heidi Horn:

transferred. Look at.

Chace Torres:

I've always said defibrillator to be able to discharge electricity.

Barbara Mcquire:

Right for good, though, right? Do you use your power for good?

Chace Torres:

I wouldn't know how I could use it for good but it'd be cool just to shoot lightning for my fingertips embrace the dark side so last segment, this one is more just to pull from your experience. So let me get into it. The modality so the modality is just bridging from our personal experiences by events. We all have a funny story anecdote, something that happened to us or we experienced that we will never forget. And everybody has one of those stories. So, do you all have maybe a funny story that has to deal with being a biomed technician or just in the HTM field is in general that you'd like to share?

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah, there's several I can think of. But one was from a lesson I learned pretty early on when I was first working as a technician. When I was working on an infant incubator, and I had to reach across to make an adjustment, and I had not yet unfolded the unit. I learned pretty quickly to always make sure you know, the lockout tagout. Make sure everything's on point, I got a nice shot from that one. And the, the technician that I was working with, you know, kind of saw me do. So we all had a good laugh about it afterwards. But I definitely never forgot that lesson. Make sure whatever your work,

Chace Torres:

you're gonna shock yourself one way or another at some point as a technician. Hopefully, you

Barbara Mcquire:

only do it once. And then you learn that that's

Heidi Horn:

Yeah, so I was never a technician. So I can't say that I have any stories about being a technician, but I can tell you as a manager, I do remember one, it just was like, what happened here. So we had a person working on a CT, and they were replacing some of the parts and everything, pretty much tore the whole thing apart. So we had parts of this thing all over the place. And then you just kind of up and quit. And so like, you know, we didn't know where you put the parts or where you know, and we of course, obviously ended up

Chace Torres:

having to call wasn't organized at all up into the room, you

Heidi Horn:

know, and of course, the radiology director was just having fits about it. You know, and it was just parts parts everywhere, and no rhyme or reason or anything. And so I remember going, oh that was, that was the story that sticks out in my career is like the moment where we gotta do something about this quickly. Eventually, they got it back together.

Chace Torres:

Everybody has won. So much so that I needed to make a segment for it. Well, congratulations on all your success that you've had. And your future endeavor, and consulting. Heidi, I know y'all are gonna continue doing great things. We have more and more women coming into the field to continue, you know, leading us into the next generation. So it's always refreshing just to have this conversation and sit down and just discuss that women can be leaders and the HTM field as well. So thank you for being here today. It's been an absolute pleasure. And may the beard be with you. Yes.

Heidi Horn:

Congratulations on your birth of your baby boy in May. So that's

Chace Torres:

great. Mission and training. Yeah.

Barbara Mcquire:

Yeah. Thanks, James. Thanks so much for having us and

Chace Torres:

of course, and for anybody that is listening. You can find this on Spotify, Apple Stitcher, any way you may like to take your podcasts heard you to subscribe, listen, and keep an eye out for new content coming because I'm not going anywhere. Thank you for beard tuning in and have a great day.