Healthcare Personnel:or

Who are all those people?

© D. J. McMahon 2014 rev 140923

Qualification Standards for Healthcare Workers

Certification: Determination that you have met predetermined educational standards and passed an exam.

Registration: Education, observed experience, an exam, and placement on a state registry.

Licensure: All of the above, plus permission to perform certain functions.

There is a lot of cross-over and ambiguity in these termsas applied to healthcare professionals.

Medical: physician (MD, DO) physician’s assistant (PA)

Dental: dentist (DDS, DMD) dental hygienist (LMD) dental assistant (CDA)

Nursing: nurse practitioner (ARNP) registered nurse (RN) licensed practical nurse (LPN) nursing care assistant (CNA) nursing station clerk (or other titles)

The Players:

Occupational Therapy: occupational therapist (OTR) occupational therapy ass’t (COTR)

Physical Therapy: physical therapist (PT) physical therapy ass’t (PTA)

Respiratory Therapy: respiratory therapist (RRT) (CRT) respiratory therapy aide

Materials Management: central services technician (CRCST)

Pharmacy: pharmacist (RPh) pharmacy technician

Vision Care: ophthalmologist (MD) optometrist (OD) optician ophthalmic technician ophthalmic lab technician

Cardiac Metrics: cardiologist (MD) cardiovascular technologist ECG technician

Health Information: health information admin (RHIA) health information tech (RHIT) medical transcriptionist (MT) coding specialist (CCS)

Surgical: surgeon (MD) surgical physician ass’t (PA) anesthesiologist (MD) anesthetist (CRNA) surgical tech (CST) anesthesia tech (CerAT)(CerATT)

More Players:

Still More Players:

Imaging: radiologist (MD) radiologic tech (RT) ultrasound tech (RDMS, etc) vascular technologist (RVT) CAT tech MRI tech PET tech

Clinical Laboratory: pathologist (MD) medical lab technologist (MT) laboratory tech laboratory ass’t phlebotomist (CPT)

1) Put patient care first.2) Be dependable.3) Work well with others.4) Be flexible.5) Be willing to continue learning.6) Be cost-conscious.

Essential Qualitiesfor

Healthcare Workers:

Allied Technical Support

in Healthcare Facilities

ClinicalEngineering

Info Systems

Telecom

FacilitiesEngineering

Interaction of the four major support groups in medical centers

Facilities Engineering -

Concerned with maintaining an efficient and safe physical environment in any healthcare facility.

Typically staffed by a variety of professionals at several skill levels: plumbers, electricians, HVAC specialists, carpenters, painters, etc.

General systems of responsibility:

> HVAC

> water supply

> steam

> grey water & sewage

> electrical

> fire alarms

> vacuum

> medical gases

Others, depending on setting:

> beds, tables, etc

> O.R. tables

> surgical overhead lights

> large autoclaves

> patient televisions

However,Many clinical engineering departments assume responsibility for some of these groups, and others.

Certified Healthcare Facility Manager

(CHFM)

> Certification administered by AHA and ASHE

> Covers the federal and international standards for safety and efficiency in

maintaining the physical plant of hospitals and clinics

> Includes oversight of maintenance, repairs, improvement projects,

compliance with codes, infection control, and budgetary issues

> Any medium to large facility has a CHFM

Emergency electrical circuits

Fed by the in-house generators when the external power fails.

Feed every third ceiling light and all egress signs, and all service in critical care departments (ED, ICU, OB, OR)

Receptacles and switches are red.

Emergency power must activatewithin 10 seconds of a failure ofthe power grid.

Ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI’s) are required in “wet locations”and within 6 feet of any sink.

Testing receptacles - Facilities Engineers or Clinical Engineering ??

Fire alarm and sprinkler systems

Vacuum systems –

Bulk medical gas supply

Cylinder medical gas supply

Information Systems (IS) -

Responsible for the transfer of the administrative, financial and clinical information in a medical center. Includes paper-based information processing as well as desk-tops, laptops, servers, and their interconnection.

Major role in data security and patient privacy.

Also includes archiving of diagnostic images (PACS).

Sometimes called Clinical Information Systems (CIS)

Increasing interaction between IS and Clinical Engineering in the past five years, as patient care equipment is more commonly networked and archived.

HL7 - a nationally and internationally accepted computer protocol that allows healthcare applications to share clinical data with each another.

IEC 80001 - an application of risk management to hospital networks that incorporate medical devices. Deals with the risks of corrupted data and unauthorized access to data in healthcare networks.

Telecommunications -

Responsible for all modes of voice and data communication within the facility: telephones, pagers, cell phones, wireless hands-free pagers, etc.

Example:

Typical credentialing agencies:

Vendor Credentialing Service

RepTrax

VendorMate

And finally:

Vendor representatives and contract technical personnel are now commonly credentialed before allowed into the facility.

There are a lot of people on board…

Get to know what they do.