During Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) Week May 15-22, we’re honoring all of the Texas Children’s HTM professionals for the critical work they do year-round to manage and maintain all of our healthcare technology. These amazing team members play a vital role in enabling technology best practices across our organization. They are responsible for routinely using, managing, and repairing all medical devices, ensuring the technology our clinicians use daily operates seamlessly, and that our patients receive the highest care possible.
Did you know?
The 64 team members in Texas Children’s HTM department have more than 1,356 collective years of experience. These diversely experienced individuals are responsible for 47,000 pieces of medical equipment worth over $444,000,000. They collect over 2,600,000 data points including the benefits of preventive maintenance and corrective work orders, as well as analyze the data collected and deliver analysis reports to leaders to utilize in their evidenced-based decision making.
The HTM department is tightly integrated with Information Services (IS), as data from many of these pieces of equipment ends up in Epic to assist our clinical community with real-time clinical decision making. One example of this is through the use of the MIC Sickbay platform, where data is collected from bedside equipment and displayed on monitors in some of our most acute care settings. This data makes its way to Epic and provides additional data points to assist our clinicians with decision making. The data is also used in predictive care modeling, which can be used to forecast adverse events in our patients.
“The HTM and IS teams are seamlessly integrated through the use of technology, and as we explore new frontiers such as Internet of Things (IoT) and home health, this powerful integration will lead to more data that will be valuable to our clinical care communities,” said IS Director of Enterprise Systems Ashok Kurian.
According to HTM’s new Director, Andrew Stiles, the department is “driven to build on the things we already do well by working with the rest of the organization as technology advisors and leveraging data to reduce friction.” HTM team members excel at quick turnaround time on repairs and consistent regulatory compliance – the HTM Department hasn’t had a formal regulatory compliance finding in over 20 years.
Stiles recognizes the value, quality and specialized skillsets his team brings to the table, adding, “I am excited to be part of Texas Children’s Hospital and leading a HTM team that is recognized for their collaborative partnerships and providing quality services that meet both clinical and regulatory requirements. I look forward to enhancing our already great program and advisory/consulting capabilities along our journey to become an even stronger resource to the organization.”
As technology advisors, HTM team members bring innovative solutions to the table when physicians and others reach out. A few examples include:
- Biomedical Equipment Specialist Randy Thornton, who receives direct calls from physicians for special services, was tasked with finding a location and installing a dosimeter to measure noise levels in the Legacy Tower Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and gather data to study how noise in the room affects patient outcomes.
- When the Cardiovascular Operating Room (OR) team learned that their new standard model Zoll R-series defibrillators did not have the same capability as the existing Lifepack 20e defibrillators to connect by cable to the patient monitor during surgeries, they turned to Thornton for a solution. He worked with Cardiac ICU Attending Physician Dr. Justin Elhoff to define specifications for a new cable and worked with the Nursing team to find a vendor who could manufacture it. With the proper cable, the Cardiovascular OR team was able to return to seeing the patient’s vitals on one monitor during heart surgeries.
- The HTM department has been working closely with Supply Chain to determine medical equipment capital needed for the new campus in Austin. One advantage of this collaboration is the reduced and sometimes free cost of training for the HTM team to acquire the proper skillsets to repair and maintain equipment, and offer training for clinical staff as needed. Current data shows that collective training of the Austin five-person HTM team is 218 days on 7,472 pieces of biomedical equipment exceeding $70,000,000. This training will reduce ongoing operating costs by eliminating the need to purchase service agreements on the equipment, as well as having a team onsite to offer the most efficient and fastest response to clinical staff requirements and requests.
In the spirit of giving back to their profession and community, the HTM department engages interns from Houston Community College and prepares to be our future HTM professionals. Some HTM team members take more of a world view on giving back by volunteering along with Texas Children’s physicians and clinical staff for mission trips, which can take more than a year of preparation. So far HTM team members have traveled to Bolivia, Africa and China.
HTM professionals also ensure the safety and security of our technology system upgrades, provide technical assistance and resources and information about technology upgrades, highlight good-to-know technology tips in their newsletters, and much more.
“I’m excited to see the convergence of Biomedical Engineering and IS Clinical Engineering that will ultimately enable the advancement of Health Technology Management at Texas Children’s,” said Teresa Tonthat, Vice President of Information Services. “As we continue to partner with our clinical teams across the system, our objective is to deploy enhanced digital experiences that help provide positive outcomes for our patients.”
Thank you to all of our amazing HTM professionals at Texas Children’s. We appreciate your immense dedication and commitment to develop, enhance and safeguard Texas Children’s health technology as part of our health care delivery care team. We hope you enjoy your week!
