The evolution of contrast injector training for HTM/clinical engineering professionals mirrors the growth of Maull Biomedical Training LLC.
In 2008, Founder and Owner Stephen Maull was doing some industry research into what clinical engineering training was in demand. He came to realize that the contrast injector industry was completely unrepresented in the training sector. He found this odd because he had worked on contrast injectors while serving in the United States Air Force as a BMET and BMET instructor for 11 years. He realized his expert military training could benefit others and have a positive impact on patient outcomes throughout the nation.
In the summer of 2008, Maull Biomedical Training was created. ICE learned more about the company via an interview with Maull.
Q: How does your company stand out in the medical imaging field?
A: We were the first independent company to provide operation and service training on contrast injectors. Before we opened our doors (metaphorically speaking) in 2008, hospitals were beholden to the manufacturer for maintenance on their contrast injectors; the training for hospital personnel just didn’t exist at a reasonable price. The OEMs did “offer” training to in-house BMETs, but in many instances the cost of training on just one model was over $10,000. We offer that training for a little over $1,000.
Q: What are some of the services and products you offer?
A: We are strictly a training company. Training on contrast injectors is all we do, so we are able to put all of our attention on just that task – providing the best possible training to the clinical engineering field. Through our courses, both online and in-person, we teach the BMET the basics of contrast injectors, proper model specific operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of all the most common contrast injectors in the North American market. We have also provided training in Canada and even overseas in China and Italy. Along with the training, we also sell toolkits, needed for the proper maintenance of the contrast injectors the students get trained on, as well as PM kits for most of the models we provide training for. We also have 2-3 new models we are striving to get the training ready for in 2022 to add to our library of courses.
Q: What has been your company’s biggest achievement?
A: By far it has been the development of our proprietary MIST (Maull Injector Service Tool) software. As far as we are aware, no other biomed training company in the world has developed a training and service tool this robust, regardless of modality. Our software, which has videos for every single step of the operation and PM training, takes the student through the entire operation of the contrast injector and the complete PM and calibration/verification procedures. It leaves nothing to the imagination; it shows in great detail each and every step of the PM procedure and when finished, it produces a PM report in PDF format. So, everything that gets performed and annotated during the PM, while following along in the software, is added to the completed PM report. Our MIST software also has, by far, the most troubleshooting help available in the contrast injector market with over 1,000 error codes and messages, all model specific, to help the BMET when needed, and most of the errors covered in MIST software also have an accompanying how-to video. Nobody else has anything like that.
Q: What is on the horizon for your company?
A: We are working diligently on adding the MRExperion and the EZEM Empower CTA/CTA+ to our training library. We are also currently working on expanding more into Europe and eventually seeing if we can’t get a training presence in India. With the growth of the contrast injector market, we feel we are in a great position to move into those markets with our online training and, eventually, partner with a training company in those regions.
Q: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?
A: I became an Air Force BMET in 1991 and then an Air Force and DoD BMET instructor in 1997. I’m not just some former BMET who will show you the ropes. Maull Biomedical has trained nearly 2,000 BMETs since we opened our doors on the proper operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of contrast injectors. Our training is broken down into three parts: Introduction to Contrast Injectors; Model Specific Operation; and Model Specific Maintenance. The first two parts are free and available to anyone who goes to our website and we invite anyone to come try out our free training if you have any thoughts at all about taking over the maintenance of your contrast injectors. We can provide the best contrast injector training in the world to your personnel virtually or in person. We can also bring the training to you; if you have at least four students we can provide the training on-site and we bring everything with us. All you have to provide is the students.
For more information, visit maullbiomedical.com.
