By K. Richard Douglas
Steve Sanchez, BMET 1; Quinton Campbell, BMET 2; Adam Sumner, ISE 1; Ralph Anderson, ISE 3 Team lead;
Joe Grande, ISE 3; Eric Massey, RRM; Victor Willis, BMET 3; Steve Murphy, ISE 3; and Ben Brown, ISE1.
The west coast of Florida is a popular destination. It offers a mild climate, beautiful beaches and quick access to deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Western Florida is also served by quality health care providers.
The West Florida Division of AdventHealth is an 1,810-bed health care system currently comprised of 10 acute-care hospitals. The health care system includes a post-acute care facility and more than 45 multi-specialty AdventHealth Physician Group practices, 15 AdventHealth Express Care locations and six AdventHealth Centra Care Urgent Care Centers.
The imaging service needs for the West Florida Division of AdventHealth are handled by five imaging service engineers, including three who serve in a hybrid role supporting biomed and imaging.
“Crothall is the clinical engineering provider for AdventHealth in the West Florida and Central/North Divisions. I am the resident regional manager for the West Florida Division,” says Eric Massey, a key member of the Crothall Healthcare Technology Solutions (HTS) team in Florida.
“Our imaging team in West Florida reports directly to me. These techs have received RSTI 1 training and will move into an ISE position after a year of on-the-job experience and taking RSTI 2. We also work together with the Central/North Division and our Florida field service teams. Those divisions provide an additional five ISE techs for support in Florida,” Massey says.
A recent visit with Massey and his team provided first-hand exposure to his enthusiasm and high energy level. He praised his team and everything they are doing to provide the best quality service to customers and, ultimately, patients.
The group is responsible for all of the imaging modalities used at the various facilities. Massey has built a strong team that continues to get stronger with additional training.
Out of the gate, Massey and the department are focused on service delivery planning as well as quality processes and alignment with Crothall’s preparation for ISO 13485 certification. Another key area of focus is cybersecurity readiness. All of this goes hand-in-hand with the department’s objective to provide day-to-day support of the client.
Service Delivery
Jumping in feet first, Massey built a Service Delivery Plan to meet clients’ needs. One of the first things he did was complete an extensive review of equipment. He then developed a Service Delivery Plan. This plan outlined where additional investment in training needed to be made and how to best maintain equipment.
“Crothall has invested in industry-leading coursework at RSTI in the ‘Principles of Radiographic Systems’ and ‘Advanced Radiographic Systems Maintenance,’ establishing a strong baseline for the team,” Massey says.
Next, investments will be made in CT fundamentals and GE Optima training in the spring. These investments benefit the client as well as the team’s skilled technicians.
On the ultrasound side, Crothall “leveraged its partnership with Avante Ultrasound to recently bring a week-long training program on the GE S8 and Logic e9.” Massey notes that the Service Delivery Plan includes the management of OEM service contracts.
“Naturally, we like to maintain as much of the equipment as possible with our own hands, but we work closely with the OEMs where existing contracts are in place,” he explains.
Massey didn’t forget about the support his team gets from Crothall’s Technical Resource group in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Mooresville group supports the field team in many ways, including parts agreements on high-end devices that include forward stocking locations.
“We appreciate the experience this team has in expediting parts and to seamlessly get us parts via the next flight out when needed,” Massey says.
ISO 13485
An ongoing challenge and opportunity for Massey is to train his new sites on ISO 13485 standards and Crothall’s QMS System. Tools being used include 5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain) to get the shops cleaned and organized in a manner that optimizes safe and efficient repair of equipment while reducing risk.
“It forced us to look closely at all our processes to meet the new standard – while our quality management program in place was strong, ISO 13485 raises our game,” Massey says.
“The result is that beyond shops that look and feel clean, processes are standardized and team pride is up,” he adds.
Cybersecurity
Technology advances and high standards are on the 2019 agenda along with the team’s current projects.
“We are currently working with AdventHealth IT on setting up a VPN to have remote access to all our high-end imaging devices that we service in this region. We currently service 12 cath labs, four CT units and two MRIs. This remote access will allow our imaging specialists, around the country, to assist in the troubleshooting of these units along with our partner suppliers. This access will be monitoring helium, temperature and humidity on our MRI units,” Massey says.
Crothall’s cybersecurity readiness process involves a thorough inventory of its systems. This provides many benefits.
“Capturing network information in our TeamTrace database allows us the ability to troubleshoot PACS issues. It also will allow us to support our client with information to reduce risk in the event of a cyberattack,” Massey says. “We want to be a resource to help our client reduce its risk in this area.”
Save the Day
Day-to-day support is a huge aspect of the team’s responsibilities and something the entire crew takes on as a matter of pride.
And, Massey has seen some good wins.
“In August 2018, our North Pinellas facility experienced an air-conditioning failure in the control room. With the Florida summer heat, this allowed the humidity to build up in this room. That moisture build-up destroyed the PCB boards in the room,” Massey says. “Our techs worked through the weekend and replaced the parts in that room and brought the unit back up and running for Monday’s cases. Having Crothall as a partner, our client avoided $80,000 in emergency service expense.”
Sunny Forecast
In addition to living in one of the most enjoyable parts of the country, the residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast can rest assured that imaging equipment will be available and working when needed most, thanks to the skilled imaging service professionals of Crothall HTS maintaining equipment for AdventHealth.
