We just went through a job realignment and now have some different job descriptions for different techs i.e. machine tech; pt care tech; reuse tech etc. Do other places have so many different descriptions? Are any of them required to be certified? How many R.N.'s are in the staff mix? Any light shed would be great.

quote:

Originally posted by bcreeklisa:
We just went through a job realignment and now have some different job descriptions for different techs i.e. machine tech; pt care tech; reuse tech etc. Do other places have so many different descriptions? Are any of them required to be certified? How many R.N.'s are in the staff mix? Any light shed would be great.

To answer your first question.... I started out with Fresenius (no longer with them) and they have similar titles. Patient Care Tech, Equipment Tech, Chief Tech, Lab Tech, Reuse Tech, Inventory Tech... so on and so forth. Second, from what I remember, there was no "certification" to start in the positions. As a machine tech I did attend various schools and took test to be certified by the company to work on our equipment. When I was a reuse tech I went through the company's training program and received a 'certificate' for doing so. Same with inventory. However, I don't think they had any requirements for being hired into those positions. The main problem is that most companies have there own specific requirements that will be next to impossible to find. So they hire someone who seems qualified for the job and capable of learning their program and it goes from there. Then they are considered certified. For instance.... when I left Fresenius and went to Gambro Technical Services, the only thing that was transferable was my Fresenius 2008 H and 2008 K training certificates. Even though I had all the other 'certifications' through Fresenius, they were useless to Gambro because they weren't company specific. Third, there were 4 patients to 1 Patient Care Tech and 1 Nurse (LVN or RN) per 10 patients (charge nurse accounted for 1 floor nurse) Hope that helps.

[This message has been edited by GTSCSS (edited 02-12-2003).]

In my group we have:

(12) Biomed Techs - all equipment maintenance and repair. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each (avg 50 -60 machines). Supervised by (3) Biomedical Managers.

(11) Tech Specialist - inventory, water quality testing, phyiscal plant and technical QA. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each. Supervised by (3) Technical Operations Managers.

(33) Facility Techs - reuse, stocking, concentrate preparation and minor physical plant upkeep. 1.5 to 4 techs per facility. Supervised by the Facility Manager.

(1) Technical Operations Specialist who does training, special projects and quality data collection.

(1) Facility Maintenance Coordinator - physical plant maintenance and repair.

Not counting the Facility techs which are not in my reporting group:

The 3 Biomed managers and all but 2 of the biomed techs have at least an AS in electronics or computer science. The 2 without an "associates" had prior dialysis experience. All of the biomeds have been hired within the last 2 years and have been trained "in house" with manufacturers certification on multiple systems.

The Tech Ops staff all came from within and either held PCT, Reuse or Chief Tech positions prior. Most of the Tech Specialist are certified preceptors. 3 have an AA, AS or BS degree and 5 are BONENT certified.

We hope to have most if not all certified in the next 2 years.

I have 2 on my staff that have over 30 years expereince. Myself plus 1 other that has over 20 years experience. 10 that have over 10 years experience. Combined my group has 377 years of dialysis experience.

As far as clinical staff ratios PCTS 1:4 patients / RN's 1:10 patients.

I asked the machine technician for my unit (major company) what kind of educational background he had..did he have a college degree to do the important job he is dong of keeping the machines maintained? He replied that he had a background in electronics and the company trained him for 2 weeks! He said they then got him out on the floor which is the way they train. I asked him how he liked this type work and he told me that he liked it..it was easy. I would of thought it was more complicated than that, but that was his opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by TD:
GTSCSS,

Hey are you guys hiring??

yes we are. we're a 14 bed station moving this year into a 21 bed station with capd and inpt dialysis.

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Todaro:
In my group we have:

(12) Biomed Techs - all equipment maintenance and repair. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each (avg 50 -60 machines). Supervised by (3) Biomedical Managers.

(11) Tech Specialist - inventory, water quality testing, phyiscal plant and technical QA. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each. Supervised by (3) Technical Operations Managers.

(33) Facility Techs - reuse, stocking, concentrate preparation and minor physical plant upkeep. 1.5 to 4 techs per facility. Supervised by the Facility Manager.

(1) Technical Operations Specialist who does training, special projects and quality data collection.

(1) Facility Maintenance Coordinator - physical plant maintenance and repair.

Not counting the Facility techs which are not in my reporting group:

The 3 Biomed managers and all but 2 of the biomed techs have at least an AS in electronics or computer science. The 2 without an "associates" had prior dialysis experience. All of the biomeds have been hired within the last 2 years and have been trained "in house" with manufacturers certification on multiple systems.

The Tech Ops staff all came from within and either held PCT, Reuse or Chief Tech positions prior. Most of the Tech Specialist are certified preceptors. 3 have an AA, AS or BS degree and 5 are BONENT certified.

We hope to have most if not all certified in the next 2 years.

I have 2 on my staff that have over 30 years expereince. Myself plus 1 other that has over 20 years experience. 10 that have over 10 years experience. Combined my group has 377 years of dialysis experience.

As far as clinical staff ratios PCTS 1:4 patients / RN's 1:10 patients.

Dennis, I am wondering is this the trial situation with the technical services on the east coast going on with FMC? Thanks!

No I'm not with FMC.

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis Todaro:
No I'm not with FMC.

Firstly, thanx Dennis and GTSCSS for the detailed response. We start our new sytem of operation and the first week hasn't went very well. But change takes time. The powers that be would like the next step be that I take over the water sytem and just have a contract for service with our current water provider. Right now we have a dual R.O. & D I tanks kind of system. Our resistivity runs around 17 and our monthly bacteria counts run <1 ecfu/ml. The trace mineral reports always come back within spec and our LAL's have always been negative. I thing the idea is to just use the D I's as a backup. Anyone experience any major problems using just one or the other? Is one preferable over the other? We're not utilizing our techs properly after all the patients get on[lots of sit down time). We need to work on that-part of our tweaking process. Any advice out there I would definitely benefit. Thanks!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dennis Todaro:
[B]In my group we have:

(12) Biomed Techs - all equipment maintenance and repair. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each (avg 50 -60 machines). Supervised by (3) Biomedical Managers.

(11) Tech Specialist - inventory, water quality testing, phyiscal plant and technical QA. Assigned to cover 2 facilities each. Supervised by (3) Technical Operations Managers.

(33) Facility Techs - reuse, stocking, concentrate preparation and minor physical plant upkeep. 1.5 to 4 techs per facility. Supervised by the Facility Manager.

(1) Technical Operations Specialist who does training, special projects and quality data collection.

(1) Facility Maintenance Coordinator - physical plant maintenance and repair.

Not counting the Facility techs which are not in my reporting group:

The 3 Biomed managers and all but 2 of the biomed techs have at least an AS in electronics or computer science. The 2 without an "associates" had prior dialysis experience. All of the biomeds have been hired within the last 2 years and have been trained "in house" with manufacturers certification on multiple systems.

The Tech Ops staff all came from within and either held PCT, Reuse or Chief Tech positions prior. Most of the Tech Specialist are certified preceptors. 3 have an AA, AS or BS degree and 5 are BONENT certified.

We hope to have most if not all certified in the next 2 years.

I have 2 on my staff that have over 30 years expereince. Myself plus 1 other that has over 20 years experience. 10 that have over 10 years experience. Combined my group has 377 years of dialysis experience.

As far as clinical staff ratios PCTS 1:4 patients / RN's 1:10 patients.

Being a part of this group, I must add my thoughts to it. By far, I think your organizing of this team has marked your Tour de force!. Your leadership abilities have pushed the team further than I would have imagined. The greatest aspect to having high levels of experience on any organization is that it gives the newer associates who are still inchoate an opportunity to grasp their teams expertise and grow. My question to the original that ties in to the previous responses is .... "In a technical field such as dialysis, what can managers do to eliminate a presaging attitude of an employee with so many years of experience, who makes other employees of lesser years feel incompetent.