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Department Spotlight: Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Imaging Team

By K. Richard Douglas

Affiliation with a nationally known university brings with it some expectation that there will be an extra helping of imaging equipment to manage. That is the case for the imaging team at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Along with their colleagues in CE, they have 1,400 total beds, over 90 locations, seven hospitals and more than 10 outpatient centers to cope with.

Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio, is a 148-year-old top-20 public university. It includes several other campuses distributed across the state of Ohio. Besides the medical center, the university is home to the Ohio State College of Medicine.

At a prestigious center of medicine such as this, imaging is a big component of diagnosis and teaching. Managing that imaging equipment is a well-trained imaging team.

“We have a staff size of 42 with seven of those dedicated to imaging. Imaging and biomed are integrated entities within our entire clinical engineering department,” says Richard Eldridge, associate director of clinical engineering, who heads up the imaging team.

“We are responsible for the medical equipment – biomed and imaging – of the entire Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Campus,” he says.

The imaging team is responsible for 21 CTs, 19 MRIs, seven cath labs, six EP (1 EP hybrid), three hybrid suites, seven IR suites, more than 300 mobile (ultrasound) systems, more than 25 portable C-arms, over 15 portable X-ray and more than 20 fixed systems.

All imaging team members are thoroughly trained from day one.

“We believe in training and education. We have really invested internally on our staff. We utilize OEMs for specific training on modalities and also send junior employees to radiology/fluoroscopy-specific training to establish a good foundation of general imaging knowledge,” Eldridge says.

“We work with our purchasing and individual departments on the purchases of new equipment and negotiate clinical engineering training in the purchase. We also have our staff bring back that knowledge from the service school and cross-train their peers. They give in-services at our weekly meetings demonstrating troubleshooting ideas and overviews of what they have learned,” Eldridge adds.

The imaging team strives to bring as much service in-house as possible and training is key to that goal.

The group is also involved in the purchasing and planning processes as well as finding ways to effectively budget.

“We are very involved in the purchase and project construction in radiology/cardiology. We work hand in hand with the team and offer advice on room layout and equipment purchases based on what we are seeing from the service end,” Eldridge says.

“We work with our purchasing department to negotiate and benchmark our service agreements. We look at all aspects of the contract tiering model. We are constantly looking for strong third-party sources for parts,” he adds.

He says that money can be saved, but there has to be an evaluation process before breaking away from the OEM.

“Quality, warranty, loaner availability and speed are four key components for utilizing third-party parts. You may be able to save money, but if the quality isn’t there and there is a delay in receiving your parts, you will quickly lose any money that you have saved in the form of lost revenue,” Eldridge explains.

“We are also involved in every aspect of medical equipment – including on the user training side. We try and work closely with our physician and medical professional partners and listen when there is a potential issue,” he says.

He says that they would first-look into the equipment and maintenance side of things, but if there is more training that needs to be done, they work with administration and the vendor to help relay that information.

Brain Storming and Details

When you’re affiliated with a major university, it only makes sense to help expose engineering students to the often overlooked field of imaging service and HTM.

“We have worked with the Women in Engineering group at The Ohio State University and have set up tours through clinical engineering. This encompasses all aspects of engineering from electrical engineering to biomedical engineering,” Eldridge says.

“This has allowed us to not only talk about what we do, but to show the engineering students what we do and how we work together with physicians and medical staff to improve patients’ lives. This has opened up job shadowing and an increase in interest in clinical engineering and an increase in job applications for our student program,” he says.

The imaging team has also showed their resourcefulness in coming up with an ingenious way to problem solve.

“We were approached by [the] research [department] who had acquired a piece of equipment that required a large pressurized gas tank to be utilized for a procedure to be performed in an MRI. The challenges were apparent in regards to where to store and house the gas tank in relation to the MRI,” Eldridge says.

“Imaging worked with [the] research [department] and evaluated the specifications of the gas tank that was needed. After brain storming some ideas, we realized that we use compressors to seal the MRI bladder style doors. That compressor met the specs of the gas requirements for the system and was much smaller. We only had to run a tubing set into the MRI and kept the compressor safely in the control room,” he says.

The team has integrated certain tasks into their procedures to assure that things work correctly, stay secure and to avoid accidental damage.

“For older systems, that have ‘dryer hose’ cable covers, we converted over to a military grade ‘Dura Wrap’ that allows the user to access the wires by pulling the Velcro apart. Otherwise you need to disconnect one or both sides of many cable connections. Also, the Dura Wrap can be added over rips and tears,” Eldridge says.

“We do morning rounding that assures working systems and gives us a face-to-face connection with our customers. We install Plexiglas covers on all large screen displays thus reducing accidental hits to a bump, not a cracked display,” he says.

“If a screw does not have a lock washer, we add thread locker. This, in most cases, prevents slippage/loose components due to transport. Cable management is always beneficial for cosmetic and service accessibility. We come in after the install is completed to make sure things are done to our expectations,” Eldridge adds.

Leadership is also involved in the imaging profession away from the workplace.

“I am currently a member of the Vizient Diagnostic Imaging Council. I have served as vice chair and chair of the council. I am a mentor to two OSU college of engineering students through the Diversity, Outreach and Inclusion Program (DOI),” Eldridge says.

“My co-associate director, Anthony McCabe, sits on a Vizient Cyber Security Task Force.”

While immersed in a learning environment, this imaging team is participating at both ends; teacher and student. With such a large inventory of assets, they are proving to be an important asset to a health care environment that requires excellence from all participants.

In Focus Nomination

  • The In Focus feature shines a spotlight on radiology and imaging directors from throughout the nation. We share information about their education and career with the readers of ICE. The article serves as a look at leaders who are making a positive impact and who serve as role models and mentors in the field.
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