ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
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contents
ICE FEATURES MANAGING EMOTIONS AT WORK What do you show up with when you show up?
36
Managing Emotions at Work: What do you show up with when you show up?
July 2019
“ If someone’s feeling frustration, I try to acknowledge that frustration and see if there’s something we can do to help them.” —Jim Fedele
rofessional P 18 Spotlight
Working in the medical imaging space is stressful. On the client side, patient sat-
Mario Pistilli, MBA, FACHE, CRA, CHFP, is
isfaction is critical to reimbursement; on the management side, so is patient
the administrative director of imaging
throughput. The success of either is rooted in technical responsibilities like budg- services at Children’s Hospital Los Angeeting, personnel, schedule management and device uptime, all of which require
les where he is focused on on budgeting,
tight controls and are subject to ever-shifting institutional priorities. What hap-
developing the potential of his staff and
pens to those high-stakes conditions when other stressors from personal life
keeping work interesting.
find their ways into the picture?
Corporate Profile: Oxford Instruments
Oxford Instruments Healthcare is in a class by itself. It has a strong research and development background coupled with its experience manufacturing high-field superconducting magnets for several OEMs. ICE magazine shares more about information about the company in a Q&A with Oxford Instruments Healthcare National Sales and Marketing Manager Rex Lindsey. Page 32
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contents
ICE DEPARTMENTS
July 2019
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10 Imaging News
18 Professional Spotlight
40 Careers Center
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20 Department Spotlight
23 Ultrasound Transducers Spotlight 24 Ultrasound Transducers Gallery
45 Imaging Matters
28 Solutions Guide
48 Daniel Bobinski
31 Tools of the Trade
44 Photo Contest
16 People on the Move
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42 Advantages of Outsourcing 46 Servicing Ultrasound
50 Index
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ICE Magazine (Vol. 3, Issue #7) July 2019 is published by MD Publishing, 18 Eastbrook Bend, Peachtree City, GA 30269-1530. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ICE Magazine at 18 Eastbrook Bend, Peachtree City, GA 30269-1530. For subscription information visit www.theicecommunity.com. The information and opinions expressed in the articles and advertisements herein are those of the writer and/or advertiser, and not necessarily those of the publisher. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Š 2019
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ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2019
ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
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Centers of Excellence for Ultrasound Probe Repair, MRI Coil Repair, Radiography, and Design and Manufacturing
news
IMAGING NEWS A LOOK AT WHAT’S CHANGING IN THE IMAGING INDUSTRY Acertara Receives ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Certificate of Accreditation Acertara Acoustic Laboratories, an independent ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited medical ultrasound acoustic measurement, testing, and calibration laboratory, and ISO13485:2016 certified probe repair and new product development facility has received the latest version of accreditation from the ANSI National Accreditation Board for ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for ultrasound acoustic testing and calibration. “The transition from the previous standard, ISO 17025:2005, to the new standard, 17025:2017, was very challenging as the depth of additional requirements with the new standard was extensive; in fact Acertara is now one of only three acoustic laboratories in the world with this scope of accreditation and the only one in the United States,” Acertara CEO G. Wayne Moore said. “Our lab provides acoustic testing services for original equipment manufacturers on a world-wide basis in support of their FDA 510(k) ultrasound
submissions, and for EU requirements to obtain CE labeling. Our work in this area also supports our probe repair service through verification and validation of materials and components used in the repair process.” Among other elements for accreditation, ISO 17025:2017 requires objective evidence that the laboratory demonstrates technical competence for a defined scope and the operation of a laboratory quality management system. Part of evidence-based proficiency testing comes through inter-laboratory comparisons using specified technical parameters to ensure testing accuracy among peer-laboratories. In other news, Acertara Acoustic Laboratories announced the completion of its Acertara-owned facility and relocation of
its headquarters. “We are very excited to bring Acertara to the next level with our new headquarters,” Moore said. “The new facility gives us the room to expand our operations and introduce new products to the market. Furthermore, it was important to complement Acertara’s position as a privately-held business by building a facility we own so we could provide our customers with further flexibility and support assurances in what has recently become a volatile market.” Acertara operations were opened in Longmont, Colorado in late June 2011 by industry veterans G. Wayne Moore and James Gessert, who previously founded Sonora Medical Systems. The Acertara team are pioneers in Quality Assurance Test Products and are widely viewed as the creators of the worldwide third-party ultrasound market including the modern probe repair paradigm. •
Philips and University of Vermont Health Network Sign 10-year Agreement Royal Philips and the University of Vermont (UVM) Health Network have announced a long-term, strategic partnership of 10 years. The partnership, which extends an existing relationship between the two organizations, will help support staff in providing high-quality care and advance efforts to improve the health of the population in Vermont and Northern New York. Connecting the UVM Health Network with advanced digital Philips innovations like imaging systems, ultrasound, patient monitoring and clinical informatics, the partnership will offer a comprehensive range of clinical and business solutions and consulting services. These technologies and services will help the UVM
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Health Network better integrate workflows for a more seamless patient experience. The UVM Health Network provides care for patients on both sides of Lake Champlain, from the Green Mountains of Vermont to the Adirondacks of Northern New York. “By working together as a network, and relying on the most innovative technology, we will be able to provide the highest quality care to our patients in Vermont and Northern New York,” said Dr. John Brumsted, president and CEO of the UVM Health Network. “Our continued partnership with Philips will help us better understand and care for our patients,
wherever they come to us. Leveraging technology helps our clinical staff provide the best care at the bedside throughout the network.” The partnership will help create a consistent patient experience across the UVM Health Network, as well as contribute to predictability in costs. Further, the UVM Health Network will work with Philips to streamline workflows, optimize medical technology deployment and collaborate to achieve operational excellence. This will include access to Philips technologies and services such as PerformanceBridge, which can further drive operational efficiency across modalities. •
ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
news
Absolute Imaging Solutions Acquires Northeast Electronics Absolute Imaging Solutions (AIS), a leader in nuclear medicine equipment service and sales, has acquired Northeast Electronics (NE). Northeast has been successfully servicing the New England area for over 30 years, providing the same quality equipment management as AIS, with a specialty in parts repair. The combined companies will have approximately 30 field service engineers covering the Eastern United States. Absolute Imaging Solutions is a subsidiary of TTG Healthcare LLC, a holding company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. TTG also owns diagnostic imaging businesses under Cardiac Imaging Solutions and nuclear pharmacies under Nuclear Isotope Solutions. The complementary companies represent TTG’s strategy for delivering customized diagnostic solutions for the healthcare community. For more information, visit www.ais-nuclear.com. •
CHLA Works to Advance Radiation Therapy for Children with Cancer Doctors at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) continue to lead the field of radiation oncology by pushing the leading edge of technological advances. A new report by Arthur Olch, Ph.D., highlights the use of specialized software that could advance treatment accuracy for pediatric cancer patients. During radiation therapy, patient position must be stable from session to session to ensure radiation beams are properly targeting the tumor. For this reason, X-ray images are taken before each treatment. Radiation therapists can use this information to reorient the patient so that the position is exactly the same each time. Doctors at CHLA are taking this already rigorous process one step further. From early in its development, Olch, a radiation physicist, has been evaluating the use of new software to advance quality assurance in radiation therapy. In a recent publication, he highlights the use of this technological advance to aid in the treatment of pediatric cancers. Radiation therapy uses a beam of targeted X-rays that kill cancer cells over the course of treatment. After the beam
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passes through the patient, it is captured on an imaging panel. Olch and his team make use of the information carried by these beams – called exit images – using the automated software. These images contain important information about the exact dose being delivered to the tumor and surrounding tissues and can be compared to the planned doses. Up to 20 images might be generated per treatment session. With treatments occurring every day for several weeks, this makes for an unwieldy amount of data to manually process. Now, radiation oncology staff have a tool that will do this in seconds. The program automates not only image capture but also analysis. Analyzing these images provides new information that allows further fine tuning of the radiation beams and patient position from session to session. This, says Olch, gives radiation oncologists more information that can be used to account for anatomy changes in real time. “If a patient gains or loses weight, their dimensions change,” he says. “Likewise, as the tumor shrinks, radiation beams need to take a different trajectory.”
Adjustments are routinely made as a standard of care, but by utilizing the latest technological advances, CHLA radiation oncologists are redefining this standard. “We have a very comprehensive quality assurance strategy,” says Olch, “and this software is an important addition to our already high standard of care.” What does this mean for patients? As one of the only pediatric centers in the country to adopt and use this new technology, CHLA gives patients the best chance at fighting their disease. “If your child needs radiation therapy, we are the only place around using this system,” says Olch. “It’s difficult to say at this point whether this will necessarily cure more children. But if we can better target their tumors and refine our radiation dosing, we are reducing toxicity and giving kids their best possible chance.” Olch is also a professor of clinical radiation oncology at USC. He co-authored the publication with Kyle O’Meara and Kenneth Wong, M.D. Olch provides consulting services to Sun Nuclear Corporation, who provided PerFRACTION software but did not fund the study. •
ICEMAGAZINE
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news Carestream Signs Multi-Year Contracts in Italy
Carestream recently signed three multiyear contracts for more than $25 million to implement its Vue Clinical Collaboration Platform and digital radiography solutions for health care facilities in the Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Molise regions of Italy. “Our goal is to help health care facilities offer better services to their patients through the introduction of advanced technology and process innovations,” explained Fabio Tigani, country sales manager of Carestream Health Italy. “This is what our partners expect and why they chose us for their digital upgrade.” The Area Vasta Emilia Centro is a point of reference for over 1.3 million citizens,
bringing together a network of 18 health facilities and more than 7,000 health care professionals that manage over 1.5 million radiologic examinations per year. The Ligurian agreement initially involves the ASL 1 Imperiese Trust, the ASL 2 Savonese Trust and the ASL 5 Spezzino Trust, for a total of 10 health facilities with more than 1,000 health care professionals. The aim is to create an integrated regional solution for patient diagnostic images. In Molise, the project involves the creation of a single network of images coming from regional hospitals and health care facilities that perform more than 250,000 radiological examinations a year. More than 830 radiologists will have access to the Carestream Clinical Collaboration Platform that will facilitate collaboration between health care professionals in order to improve the patient’s experi-
ence. State-of-the-art multimedia reports and advanced visualization modules that include neuroradiology tools, oncology lesion management, orthopaedic measurements and specialized breast imaging tools will make it easier for medical professionals to treat complex diseases. All of the healthcare facilities will have access to the patient images through the 2019 KLAS Category Leader Universal Viewer module of the Carestream Clinical Collaboration Platform, which will guarantee safety and protected use via smartphone and tablet. This solution will enable more than 8,000 clinicians to work together on patient care. Web access to all reports and diagnostic images and the possibility of sharing “live” views securely between health professionals will ensure faster assessments and more precise diagnoses. •
Carestream Introduces New Small-Format Cesium Iodide X-ray Detector Carestream recently introduced its newly designed small-format Carestream DRX Plus 2530C Detector with cesium iodide technology. This X-ray detector has a resolution of 98 microns and delivers enhanced resolution to capture the fine detail of smaller anatomical structures present in pediatric patients. This new detector allows quick and easy positioning in the incubator trays of pediatric bassinettes of all sizes. The DRX Plus 2530C detector is a cesium iodide design, which is ideal for dose-sensitive pediatric applications. The detector also provides convenient, comfortable positioning for a wide range of extremity exams. The new 25 x 30 cm detector offers beam-sensing technology and a built-in wireless access point that simplify installation and represent important improvements to Carestream’s first small-format detector. The detector also delivers longer battery life to support continued use throughout the day and night. “Our new detector will offer valuable improvements in small-format imaging throughout the hospital – from the NICU to orthopaedics, surgery or tabletop exams,” said Jill Hamman, Carestream’s worldwide marketing manager for global X-ray solutions. “It also addresses requests from health care professionals for enhanced diagnostic image resolution.” 12
ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2019
The new detector features Carestream’s X-Factor that can help enhance productivity and convenience since any of the company’s DRX Plus detectors can be used with any DRX imaging system to help ensure continuous uptime and greater imaging flexibility. • ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
news
Varian Acquires CyberHeart Varian has acquired CyberHeart, a privately held company with intellectual property (IP) that covers the use of radiation in the heart (cardiac radioablation) and other forms of radiosurgery for cardiovascular disease. “Based on the early positive clinical results in ventricular tachycardia we have seen from other investigators, we believe that this technology can offer hope to cardiac arrhythmia patients,” said Dee Khuntia, chief medical officer at Varian. “Cardiac radioablation would truly be a paradigm shift, bringing together two specialties – radiation oncology and cardiac electrophysiology – to collaborate in the treatment of cardiac patients.” “Varian has a long track record of innovations in the field of radiation medicine and has successfully commercialized radiosurgery technology for treating both benign and malignant lesions,” said
Kolleen Kennedy, president of Varian Proton Solutions and chief growth officer. “We look forward to expanding our focus on patient-centered innovation to the cardiac radioablation space.” First in-human studies of radioablation in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Circulation. “While cardiac radioablation technologies are not yet approved by the FDA, we feel that the results of these recent early studies are promising enough to warrant investment in this area,” Kennedy said. “We’re now working to evaluate the CyberHeart IP portfolio and determine priorities for development and clinical trials going forward.” Varian’s acquisition of CyberHeart involved the transfer of IP. For more information, visit www. varian.com. •
MR Solutions Featured at ISMRM Meeting MR Solutions’ high-field simultaneous PET-MR systems and large bore, 7T cryogen-free MRI technology were seen to be game-changers by leading molecular imaging researchers at the 27th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in Montreal last week. The accuracy and speed of acquisition of PET combined with high-field MRI imaging is now viewed as the norm by academic laboratories across the world. Fabrice Chaumard, sales and marketing director of MR Solutions said, “It was very gratifying to not only have great interest from new customers, but report backs from existing customers on the quality of the images, the stability and WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
robustness of the technology.” MR Solutions, which remains the only supplier of cryogen free or dry technology with operating systems in the field, has a range of MRI scanners with combined PET and SPECT capabilities from 3T to 7T with a variety of bore sizes to accommodate different sized subjects. MR Solutions first developed the dry magnet technology in 2011 with a 3T system. Multi-modality capabilities – PET and SPECT – were developed and made available in 2014. The PET or SPECT technology can be used sequentially as a clip on to the MRI scanner or in the bore for simultaneous acquisition. For more information, visit www. mrsolutions.com. ICE
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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
news
WEBINAR WEDNESDAY Leadership Roundtable Webinar A Hit By John Wallace
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special ICE Leadership Roundtable Webinar sponsored by Summit Imaging drew imaging professionals from throughout the nation to discuss parts, cost savings and more. The roundtable webinar included a panel of imaging directors from the leading health care systems as they collaborated, shared best practices and answered questions from attendees. This session was a rare opportunity to learn from the best and brightest in the industry. It was also a chance to gain invaluable knowledge that can help imaging professionals and departments grow and prosper. The roundtable panel included Kyle Grozelle, Manager of Global Education & Training for Summit Imaging; Jessica Chambers, Director-Imaging, Vascular Lab/Procedure, Neurodiagnostics, & Pain, SSM Health Saint Joseph Hospital; Mario Pistilli, Director, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles; Greg Williams, Director of Medical Imaging and Special Testing, Summerville Medical Center; Kelsey Mach, Imaging Services Director, CHI St. Luke’s Health Brazosport; and Seema Mislmani, Director of Imaging Services, Las Palmas Medical Center. Attendees provided great feedback
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This session was a rare opportunity to learn from the best and brightest in the industry. It was also a chance to gain invaluable knowledge that can help imaging professionals and departments grow and prosper. after the session via a post-webinar survey. They shared insights about the information they learned during the webinar that they can apply to their specific role at their facility. “Interesting information about OEM and remanufactured parts,” is what Supervisor O. Jarrin took away from the presentation. “Great discussion about cost savings,” commented J. VanDyke, Senior Biomedical Technician. J. Thielen, Account Manager, said the presentation provided insights to help with “understanding the perspective of the imaging manager.” The webinar “helped to reinforce the in-house model we currently have in place and hybrid relationships we employ with certain vendors both OEM and third party [suppliers],” R. Green,
Director of HTM Imaging, said. More than 3,000 people have attended live webinars thus far in 2019 and more are on the way. ICE For more information about Webinar Wednesday, including upcoming presentations and a video library of previous sessions, visit WebinarWednesday.Live.
A special thank you to the company that sponsored the recent webinar.
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news
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE By Matt Skoufalos
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Tech Knowledge Associates of La Palma, California has added David Francoeur as senior vice president of marketing and sales. Francoeur has 30 years in healthcare technology management, having most recently been the senior corporate director of brand and quality of clinical technology management for Sodexo. He’s also worked for Crothall Healthcare, and has held leadership roles with CREST Services, ARAMARK, TriMedx, Fisher Consulting, Baystate Health Systems and Contraves Medical Instruments.
of marketing and technology at ALPHAEON, and has worked with Allergan.
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Inova of Falls Church, Virginia named John Deeken president of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute and medical director for the Inova Schar Head and Neck Cancer Program. Prior to joining Inova, he was director of the head and neck medical oncology program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University and regional director for medical oncology for Medstar Health. Deeken teaches medicine at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.
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The New York, New York-based CipherHealth has added Jennifer Compagni as chief people officer and has expanded the role of CFO Jake Pyles to include the responsibilities of COO as well.
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The Golden, Colorado-based Meritech named David Duran its CEO. Duran is the former vice president and general manager of Checkers Safety Group, past CEO and co-founder of Mineral Blue Solutions, and former director of global operations at Harrison Western Process Technologies. He succeeds outgoing CEO Jim Glenn. Intervention Insights of Boston, Massachusetts named Lee Newcomer, a former UnitedHealthcare executive and medical director for Cigna Healthcare, to its board of directors. Newcomer recently retired from UnitedHealth Group, where he spent a decade as its chief medical officer; he also had been medical director for Cigna Healthcare in Kansas City, and was a founding executive of Vivius.
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Pack Health of Birmingham, Alabama named Kelly Brassil its director of medical affairs. Kelly joins Pack Health from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she was director of nursing research and innovation.
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The Irvine, California-based Agendia Inc. added Laurie Heilmann and François Ferré to its board of directors. Heilmann is the former president of the global life science and diagnostic solutions division of Crown Bioscience International. Prior to that, she was its chief business officer in global commercialization for oncology and diagnostics. Ferré has worked in genomics and molecular diagnostics for more than 30 years. He is the founder, former CEO, chairman, and current director at AltheaDx and currently serves on the Board of La Jolla Institute and the Chopra Foundation. Concierge Key Health of Newport Beach, California named Jennifer Anderson CEO of its health and wellness membership brand. Anderson was most recently a partner in Addison Consulting, has been senior vice president 16
ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2019
The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Children’s Minnesota extended the contract of president and CEO Marc Gorelick through 2024. Gorelick joined Children’s in March 2017 as president and COO, and had previously been executive vice president and COO of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. His prior experience includes faculty positions at Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Pennsylvania, and clinical and leadership roles at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, AI DuPont Hospital for Children and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Washington Hospital Healthcare System (WHHS) of Fremont, California will see its CEO Nancy D. Farber retire after 25 years in the role and 35 in the health system. Farber first joined Washington Hospital in 1984 as its chief of strategic management; on May 1, she submitted her 180-day ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
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The Washington, D.C.-based Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) named Sr. Mary Haddad its 10th president and CEO. Haddad is currently vice president of sponsorship and mission services for CHA; she succeeds Carol Keehan, who announced last fall that she will retire in June 2019. Prior to joining CHA, Haddad was administrative fellow at Saint Anthony’s Health System in Alton, Illinois and served on the regional leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy, St. Louis. She has an MBA in health care from the University of St. Thomas and a master’s degree in social work from Saint Louis University.
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The Masonic Cancer Center of Minneapolis, Minnesota has named Anne Blaes its inaugural director of cancer survivorship services and translational research. Blaes is a hematologist and oncologist for University of Minnesota Health and an associate professor of medicine at the university medical school. Blaes also chairs the American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Survivorship Committee and sits on the executive board of the Global Cardio-Oncology Society.
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people By K. Richard Douglas
PROFESSIONAL SPOTLIGHT Mario Pistilli, MBA, FACHE, CRA, CHFP: Figuring out the ‘Why’
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unset Boulevard may be one of the most recognizable street names in the country. One of the addresses on that fabled Los Angeles thoroughfare belongs to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). The nonprofit hospital has provided pediatric health care for 114 years. The pediatric medical center offers more than 350 pediatric specialty programs and services. U.S. News and World Report recently ranked CHLA the number one hospital in California for caring for children. In this important health care environment, where treating kids is job one, the role of diagnostic imaging cannot be overstated. The imaging department’s director came to the profession via some good advice. “I was steered to the profession by my college career counselor as an area that fit my interests and skills. I really was not positive it was the right fit for me until I got to my internship,” says Mario Pistilli, MBA, FACHE, CRA, CHFP, administrative director of imaging services at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. With an interest in the sciences, Pistilli found his calling early in his college years. “My interest in imaging started as an undergraduate floundering to figure out a niche that would suit me. I loved the basic sciences, especially chemistry and physics, and was steered toward nuclear medicine,” he says. “For me, it checked all the boxes of providing clinical care, but also requiring a strong knowledge of chemistry and physics. I loved 18
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the interaction part of having to think and problem solve to produce the best images and accurate results,” Pistilli says. He completed a bachelor of science program in chemistry and nuclear medicine at the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Illinois and then completed a one-year fulltime internship at Hines VA Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. “It was an immersive year in which I worked full time in the nuclear medicine department providing clinical care under the guidance of the staff technologists, and also took additional courses in radiation physics and biology. At the conclusion of the year, I passed my national board exams to become a Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologist (CNMT),” Pistilli says. Once he began to work in the field after graduation, Pistilli says he quickly grew fascinated with all imaging modalities and was fortunate to progress rather quickly to a chief technologist role. “This gave me my first taste of leadership and my goal was to really make a positive difference for my teammates and the patients. This propelled me to pursue and obtain my MBA and become active in professional organizations. This continual learning and challenging myself has led to my current role as imaging director at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He says that he is very proud of the CHLA mission of creating hope and build-
ing healthier futures regardless of a child’s circumstances. “Despite being a safety net hospital, we still provide the highest quality care and are ranked the number one children’s hospital on the West Coast and one of the top 100 hospitals in the world,” Pistilli says. Developing Leaders The challenges of being in leadership in a large hospital center on budgeting, developing the potential in your staff and keeping work interesting. Pistilli has focused on all three. “Health care and imaging, in general, remain a very challenging field as the economics of health care become tighter and tighter. The biggest challenges are juggling limited resources while also keeping your staff engaged and feeling valued. Imaging directors have had to become masters at continually finding ways to creatively be more productive and, at the same time, not burn staff out,” he says. Pistilli recently took on a special project that he is really proud of. The project has involved partnering with the human resources department to develop a new leader launchpad and ongoing leader education. “The new leader launchpad is a six-week on-boarding and education consisting of a variety of tools to bring new leaders into the organization. I was on the team that developed the content and teach many of the classes,” he says. ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
people Favorite part of being an imaging professional? “I love the fact that imaging touches every single department in the hospital and almost every patient at some point in their care encounters imaging. I love the diversity of the different modalities and the challenges that each day brings.” “I am so excited to come to work every day, because I know that every day there will be new problems to solve and that every day we impact the lives of so many.”
Mario Pistilli is an accomplished leader and a dedicated husband and father.
GET TO KNOW THE PRO “I also am on a small team that works on the agenda and content for our monthly leadership meetings that are a mix of informational and now educational content; I deliver many of these leaders across our organization. These activities are out of my typical role, but do allow me to contribute to building better leaders throughout our entire organization,” Pistilli says. When not on the job, Pistilli can be found hiking or speaking at conferences. “I have also been a football coach for many years and was very involved in developing a youth tackle football program. I served on the board for many years, as well as head-coaching a team. I am very passionate about mentoring young people through sports and I remain proud of the organization, although I am no longer involved since relocating,” Pistilli says. He says he is also very passionate about contributing to the growth of other leaders through writing and speaking and has been fortunate to speak at numerous national meetings on the topics of leadership development and team building. “I feel that a great leader does everything they can to make those around them better,” Pistilli adds. He has been married to his wife, Suzanne, for 26 years. “Suzanne is my biggest supporter, and
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without her by my side, I could have accomplished nothing. Sue works as a medical records auditor and we met at the hospital when I worked as a technologist and she was a secretary in the imaging office,” Pistilli says. The couple enjoys spending time outdoors. “My wife and I love exploring Southern California and hiking and biking the many trails,” he says The Pistilli’s have one son, T.J., who is currently enrolled at Northern Illinois University. “He will soon be graduating with degrees in business management, entrepreneurship and marketing. He also currently works in management and marketing for a small start-up craft distillery and is learning all facets of the business as he finishes his degree,” Pistilli says. It should come as no surprise that Pistilli would share this personal philosophy: “I would love for the readers to know that I have found the most important thing is to develop your personal ‘why.’ Why do you do what you do and what impact do you hope to have? Use that ‘why’ to guide your decisions and your actions and let it show in all your interactions. Be a leader that people follow because they want to, not because of the title on your name badge,” he says. In the end, building more solid leaders at CHLA benefits children and helps with positive outcomes. That is the best “why” after all. ICE
Favorite book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey. I have found each of them to be so impactful and have used every one of them in my daily life. If you have not read it, then I highly urge you to do so. Favorite movie “Shawshank Redemption.” I love the dialogue and the relationship between Andy and Red. Favorite food I love all food, but if I had to pick, I am a huge fan of a really nice steak. Hidden talent I am a monster at trivia. What’s on my bench? “On my desk are a few essentials. I am a fidgetier so I have a collection of fidget toys and a squishy football that I always play with. A picture of my family, so I always am reminded of one of my motivators and how much I want them to be proud of me. A noise machine because when I need to zone out and really focus, I play ocean sounds.”
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people By K. Richard Douglas
DEPARTMENT SPOTLIGHT Fairview Health Services Imaging Engineering Services
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or 113 years, Fairview Health Services has been providing the resources of hospitals and clinics to the people of Minnesota. The nonprofit health care system has partnered with the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Physicians since 1997. Fairview is a large system with more than 34,000 employees, 5,000 plus providers and 2,071 staffed beds. There are also 56 primary care clinics. Their providers performed 90,411 surgeries and delivered 13,699 babies in 2018. With all of those big numbers, it is safe to assume that a lot of imaging equipment is utilized and requires service. “Our install base currently consists of 31 CT scanners, 25 MRI scanners, 40 CV/IR suites, 310 X-ray and R/F rooms, 546 ultrasound machines, 24 nuc med cameras and 29 portable X-ray machines,” says Patrick McCurry, BSRT(R) (CT)(MRI), system manager of laboratory and imaging engineering services at Fairview. To handle all of that equipment takes a dedicated free-standing imaging team. The Fairview Health Services Imaging Engineering Services team is expanding as it takes on new duties. “I currently manage 12 imaging tech20
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nicians and three phone dispatchers dedicated solely to imaging, covering approximately 1,300 imaging devices. I also am in the process of developing a lab service team, similar to what we have on the imaging side, and I currently have two technicians on the lab services team,” McCurry says. He says that within the umbrella of clinical engineering, there are two biomed managers overseeing 20-25 biomed techs. Biomed, imaging and lab share two business/database analysts. “Imaging engineering services, and now lab services, are separate, free-standing entities from biomedical engineering at Fairview, but all fall under clinical engineering,” McCurry says. The group currently services ultrasound, X-ray, R/F rooms, CR/DR units, CT, nuc med, and CV IR rooms. McCurry says that training helps them keep pace with new equipment. “We are very active in training. Whenever enough new pieces of any given model have been purchased in the system to justify the training dollars, we send one or more technicians to training,” McCurry says. On the other hand, there is some equipment the team maintains via service contracts. “Linear accelerators and MRI; both
are very expensive and have extensive training. Also, our vendors have been very competitive with service contracts in these areas, making spending the training dollars not as valuable as it could be otherwise,” McCurry says. The imaging service team also provides some valuable input into the purchasing process so that the numbers make sense. “We are usually consulted in purchases from a total cost of ownership standpoint. If a department is insistent on acquiring a ‘one-off’ type of machine, that I’m not going to acquire training on, I provide the figures for the service contract they will need to take into consideration during the planning and purchase process,” McCurry says. “I am normally included in the conversation regarding point-of-sale service contracts, and along with my partner in supply chain contracting, I am one of the primary participants in renegotiating imaging contracts,” he adds. There When You Need Them Updating equipment has required the expertise of the team. In addition to maintenance, calibration and repairs, the team tackled a systemwide replacement project. ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
people
The Fairview Health Services Imaging Engineering Services maintains a variety of diagnostic imaging equipment including ultrasound, x-ray, CT and more.
“Imaging engineering recently participated in a systemwide initiative to replace legacy CR devices with DR units throughout 2018. Due to the changing reimbursement climate between computed and digital radiography, the Fairview imaging service line converted a majority of their legacy CR devices to DR units. Imaging engineering helped with site/vendor coordination, removal and transport of old equipment, and helping the vendor set each new DR system up,” McCurry says. The team has acted as problem solvers by making themselves available to customers as well as providing equipment maintenance knowledge. “Members of my team regularly go above and beyond in their duties. They come in on weekends when they are not on call to work on a machine or install parts so patient care on Monday morning will WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
not be affected adversely. We also had some issues with cleaners being used to clean imaging equipment, as the structural integrity of plastic and rubber components were being compromised. We found a cleaner that appeared to be less detrimental to equipment while still fulfilling the requirement of infection prevention and are working on implementing its use systemwide,” McCurry says. Away from the workplace, the imaging service team keeps involved in the imaging service community and keeps its knowledge current. “Many techs are members in AAMI and NCBA (North Central Biomedical Association), and we routinely send half the team to NCBA each year, as it’s invaluable education and networking,” McCurry says. The team had to prove its merit early on.
“The imaging engineering services team faced an early up-hill battle gaining the trust and confidence of end users within the system when it first came into existence,” McCurry says. “End-user perceptions can be very difficult to overcome, but through extensive training, timely attention to issues, and a special emphasis to customer service, Fairview imaging engineering has become a valued and trusted partner in the management and service of imaging equipment across the system,” McCurry adds. With 1,300 imaging devices to repair and maintain, it takes a skilled team to keep everything working. Among those 34,000 employees, Fairview Health Services has a dozen imaging service professionals who keep the workflows for diagnostic imaging flowing smoothly. ICE ICEMAGAZINE
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DO IT RIGHT, DO IT TIMELY. WE ARE CONTRAST INJECTOR & MEDICAL EQUIPMENT REPAIR SPECIALIST
Setting the Gold Standard in Ultrasound Solutions
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products
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT Ultrasound Transducers in High Demand
U
ltrasound diagnostic imaging has seen many advances in recent years. The advances are just a few of the reasons market watchers expect ultrasound to continue to grow on a global basis. The market is forecast to exceed $8 billion by 2023. “The global ultrasound market is projected to reach $8.4 billion by 2023 from $6.3 billion in 2018, at a compound annual growth rate of 5.9 percent during the forecast period,” according to MarketsandMarkets. As the global ultrasound market continues to grow it makes sense that the ultrasound probe and transducer market will also reach new heights in coming years. Transparency Market Research (TMR) explains that ultrasound probes are designed to produce high-frequency sound waves within body tissue that in turn produces echoes. Demand for these devices is high among health care practitioners in hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers and other health care facilities. “The global ultrasound probe market is primarily driven by increase in the number of ultrasound procedures, rise in prevalence of chronic conditions and technological advancements. Additionally, growth of the fertility treatment market is projected WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
to augment the global market during the forecast period. Increase in incidence of various disorders such as cardiovascular diseases and respiratory and abdominal disorders propel demand for ultrasound diagnosis, which in turn is anticipated to boost demand for ultrasound probes,” according to TMR. “According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) account for 9.4 million deaths globally each year. The number is likely to increase to 23.3 million by 2030. Hence, demand for ultrasound devices to diagnose various CVDs is increasing due to improving image production quality. Rise in the number of patients suffering from pulmonary artery related disorders is also expected to propel demand for ultrasound devices for lung imaging. Surge in the population suffering from TB is likely to boost demand for ultrasound imaging, thereby increasing the usage of ultrasound probes primarily in low- and middle-income countries such as India, China and Africa,” TMR reports. An increase in rate of abnormalities in fetuses due to pregnancy at a late age is projected to drive demand for ultrasound diagnosis, according to the report. “Ultrasound devices are used extensively for obstetrics imaging due to
absence of harmful radiation. According to the March of Dimes Foundation, nearly one in every 150 newborn babies suffers from chromosomal abnormalities. Hence, fetus diagnostics is essential to treat chromosomal abnormalities at an early stage of pregnancy. Rise in incidence rate of such abnormalities increases demand for ultrasound imaging, and in turn usage of ultrasound probes. However, lack of awareness about ultrasound probe, high cost and limited availability are expected to restrain the global ultrasound probe market in the next few years. Government funding in emerging markets are expected to provide new opportunities in the market during the analysis period,” according to TMR. “North America led the global market in 2017 owing to a developed health care system. Europe was the second largest market in 2017. The market in the region is projected to be driven by rise in demand from ambulatory care centers. Asia Pacific held the third largest market share in 2017. This is attributed to technological advancements in health care, rise in population, increase in geriatric population and surge in the number of ultrasound diagnostic procedures performed every year, especially in China and India,” TMR reports. ICE ICEMAGAZINE
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products
Canon Medical 33 MHz Ultra-High Frequency Transducer Canon Medical Systems USA, Inc. expanded its advanced and high-performance Aplio i-series ultrasound platform with the industry’s first 33 MHz ultra-high frequency linear iDMS transducer. Using iDMS technology and a single crystal wide band, the ultra-high frequency transducer provides superb resolution and detail in ultrasound imaging. The transducer is ideal for superficial subcutaneous imaging, carotid exams in pediatrics and pediatric/neonates, superficial nerves and superficial vascular evaluations such as varicose veins. The high-frequency transducer helps clinicians deliver diagnostic imaging that is safe, less invasive than other modalities and offers clear images for confident diagnoses. •
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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
products GE Healthcare 4Vc-D The 4Vc-D is a one-probe adult 4D TTE solution on the Vivid E95 cardiovascular ultrasound system that provides an excellent ergonomic workflow solution with uncompromised 2D, 4D, color and Doppler image quality performance at ultra-high volume rates – all with a single probe. This allows for complete and comprehensive diagnosis with one probe and avoids switching of probes, thereby reducing exam time and helping to move swiftly through work with minimal muscular stress and strain on the operator. •
Philips XL14-3 xMATRIX Transducer The Philips XL14-3 xMATRIX transducer is the world’s first xMATRIX linear array that offers multi-dimensional focusing to provide ultrathin slice imaging capabilities. The xMATRIX produces extraordinary 3D images, allowing clinicians to easily see into the vessel and assess vascular disease, or for cardiovascular application. The xMATRIX transducer includes live ‘xPlane’ imaging, a proprietary feature to Philips technology. Live ‘xPlane’ imaging capabilities on the transducer allows clinicians to see two full-resolution planes simultaneously, which eliminates the need to rotate the transducer. This improves the accuracy of data collection and can reduce exam time. By bringing 3D and 4D visualization to vascular and cardiovascular ultrasound, this transducer can help facilitate confident diagnosis decisions, and enhances patient consultation. •
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products
HOLOGIC Viera Portable Breast Ultrasound System The Viera Portable Breast Ultrasound System from Hologic Inc. is a wireless, handheld ultrasound device that delivers accurate, high-resolution diagnostic images at the point of care, enabling optimization of clinical workflow and patient pathway. The system seamlessly transmits images to smart devices and communication systems (PACS) in the office, exam room or surgical suite, and allows facilities to add interventional breast ultrasound services for a fraction of the cost of comparable cart systems. •
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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
products
Siemens Healthineers
DAX Transducer The DAX (Deep Abdominal Transducer) can help clinicians to image patients of varying size with more confidence and clarity. When used on the Siemens Healthineers ACUSON Sequoia, the DAX can deliver images at depths up to 40 cm without compromising diagnostic quality. High element density transducers allow dynamic elevation aperture control according to one’s imaging needs. By changing the shape of the acoustic transmit signal, clinicians are able to clearly focus on smaller regions of interest than ever before while maintaining elevation slice thickness throughout the image. The DAX employs an advanced form of Multi-D beam formation for images at depths up to 40 cm, helping clinicians to better identify areas of interest in high-BMI patients and aid them in a more confident diagnosis. •
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SOLUTIONS GUIDE Ultrasound Probes
Innovatus Imaging SEE 575 Epsilon Drive, Suite 1 OUR AD P. 9 Pittsburgh, PA 15238 Phone: 844-687-5100 Email: customercare@innovatusimaging.com Website: www.innovatusimaging.com Innovatus Imaging (formerly Bayer MVS) is the ISO-13485 certified preferred provider of best-in-class service on MRI coils, ultrasound probes and CR systems. The company also has an FDA-registered site for the design and manufacturing of specialty ultrasound probes.
SEE MW Imaging Corp. OUR AD 920 Hemsath Rd., Ste. 102 P. 5 St. Charles, MO 63303 Phone: 877-889-8223 Email: ambers@mwimaging.com Website: www.mwimaging.com
With 25+ years of service and experience, MW Imaging offers world-class ultrasound service, OEM ultrasound parts, FREE 24/7 tech support for any ultrasound system, free loaners including TEE with your ultrasound transducer repair, and hero kits.
IT’S EASY TO GET LOST AT SEA
Trisonics, Inc. SEE OUR AD 3535 Walnut St. P. 2, 22 Harrisburg, PA 17109 Toll-free: 877-876-6427 Phone: 717-939-6860 Fax: 717-939-6864 Website: www.trisonics.com Trisonics, Inc. is your ultrasound imaging partner specializing in ultrasound service, support, systems, transducers and parts. Our goal is to provide cost effective solutions with an emphasis on personalized service.
Let RTI navigate you in the right direction with complete quality assurance solutions for all X-ray modalities and facilities. We have “click & go” solutions for everything from basic service to specialists. Every product comes with a 24-month factory warranty which can be extended up to 10 years.
+1-800-222-7537 or +1-973-439-0242 sales.us@rtigroup.com | rtigroup.com
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WOW IT’S NEVER BEEN THIS EASY TO EARN CE CREDITS
TWO WAYS TO LEARN AND EARN ed
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CEUs Provided by the AAMI Credentials Institute.
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products
TOOLS OF THE TRADE CIRS MR Safe MRgRT Motion Management QA Phantom
T
he integration of MR imaging in radiation therapy facilitates real time motion management. The CIRS MRgRT Motion Management QA phantom is designed to address such needs. The phantom is MR Safe due to the use of piezoelectric motors and non-ferro-magnetic materials. The two piezoelectric motors move a cylindrical insert, which contain a tracking target, through a gel/liquid fillable body by rotating it independently from the motion in the inferior-superior direction. The moving insert contains an organic shaped target (tumor) filled with gel, which is surrounded by the same background gel used to fill the body. The body represents a heterogenous background due to simulated lungs, liver, kidney and spine. The simulated organs are anatomical in shape and have a life-like spatial relationship. They are filled with gels that provide contrast in CT and MR versus the background gel, which fills the void between the organs. Besides imaging, all organs, except for the lungs, offer ion chamber dosimetry cavities, which allow for completing an entire QA process; from imaging to planning to verification of dose delivered. The phantom is designed as a single unit with a piezo actuator fixed permanently to a base plate on which the MRI body “snaps.” This allows for quick setup, removal, filling and storage purposes. The phantom’s base plate has machined slots on the bottom, which allow for the use of indexing bars for precise and repeatable/ reproducible phantom-MRI (MRI-Linac) alignment. CIRS Motion Control software drives this phantom. In addition to multiple built-in motion profiles, which are more appropriate for commissioning and routine QA, the software allows for import of complex patient specific respiratory waveforms. These waveforms can be edited for amplitude, sample rate, cycle time, phase shift and baseline position. It also allows to setup independently controllable waveforms for linear and rotation motion of the insert. The inferior-superior motion of the insert/moving target can be gated based on amplitude to allow verification of beam latency. ICE WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
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profile
CORPORATE PROFILE
Oxford Instruments Healthcare M artin and Audrey Wood founded Oxford Instruments (OI), the first spin-off from Oxford University, in 1959. In 1961, OI developed the first superconducting magnet. In 1983, OI was floated on the London Stock Exchange. Over the years, OI has been received numerous honors. Co-founder Martin Wood was knighted by the Queen and OI has won numerous Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. In 1989 OI entered into a 15-year joint venture with Siemens to manufacture human MRI machines, under the name Oxford Magnet Technology. OI’s primary role in the joint venture was to manufacture superconducting magnets and service the refrigeration portion (cold heads, lines, adsorbers and compressors) of MRI machines. The Siemens joint venture was the start of what now is OI Healthcare (OIHC). In 2004, Siemens purchased the OI shares in Oxford Magnet Technology. As part of the purchase agreement, OI retained a refrigeration service arrangement which continues today. In 2011, OI acquired Platinum Medical Imaging (PMI) to augment their refrigeration service offerings. At the time of acquisition, PMI was focused on the delivery of refurbished General Electric (GE) CT and
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MRI systems, service of GE CT and MRI systems and component repair and parts sales for GE CT & MRI systems. Part of the motivation for the acquisition was the recognition that the Siemens service business was ebbing and OI desired to have a more robust offering in this market space. OIHC operates in four business sectors: GE and Siemens CT and MRI maintenance service; GE and Siemens refurbished CT and MRI equipment sales; Mobile CT, MRI, PET/CT and nuclear medicine mobile rentals (multiple manufacturers); and GE and Siemens CT and MRI parts sales. ICE magazine recently interviewed Oxford Instruments Healthcare National Sales and Marketing Manager, Rex Lindsey, to find out more about the company and its plans for the future.
Q:
What are some advantages that your company has over the competition?
A: Oxford Instruments Healthcare is truly in a class by itself. On the one hand, we have a strong research and development background coupled with having been a manufacturer of high-field superconducting magnets for several OEMs. Oxford Instruments had a decades’ long
partnership with Siemens to supply them magnets for their MRI systems. To this day, you can still pull off the cover of most Siemens MRI systems and see our logo on the magnet. On the other hand, we have a tremendous amount of autonomy and flexibility in our healthcare division to grow and adapt to the rapid changes we are seeing in
Our MRI and CT leadership teams have been “in the trenches” for 25+ years and know what it takes to develop longterm partnership with healthcare providers. today’s healthcare market. Our MRI and CT leadership teams have been “in the trenches” for 25+ years and know what it takes to develop long-term partnership with healthcare providers. I believe this is a key advantage in today’s mergers and acquisitions environment where private equity and venture capital investments bring leadership teams along with them that struggle to understand the nuances of how independent service organizations find success in healthcare. Our culture still embraces the entrepreneurial “do ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
profile
Our MRI coil lab is able to repair GE and Siemens 1.5T and 3T coils including 4, 8, 16 and 32 channel coils.
whatever it takes” attitude to thrive in today’s market, but we also have the financial backing of a $500 million publicly traded company that empowers us to make strategic investments that benefit our customers. We are able to customize our solutions to each healthcare provider and scale them nationwide. It truly is the best of both worlds.
Q:
Can you explain your company’s core competencies and unique selling points?
A: Since starting out as a research and development company, Oxford Instruments has always viewed quality as being paramount to our long-term success. Whether it’s providing onsite repair service, providing a refurbished MRI coil, changing out a CT tube, delivering onsite clinical applications training or replacing a coldhead; we understand high-quality results must be consistent, reliable, reproducible and scalable. Quality is engrained into our culture, and it starts from the top down with President, Jeff Fall and COO, Mark Bringholf. It is of the upmost importance to them, and their laser focus on quality is reflected throughout our organization’s behavior. That’s why Oxford was one of the first WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
MRI and CT independent service organizations to achieve ISO 13485:2016 certification. This fosters the confidence our customers have in us. They know from first-hand experience that we deliver on our commitments. Healthcare providers have diverse needs and requirements when it comes to MRI and CT imaging equipment, and we have a complete portfolio of solutions available to them. Does your hospital have a strong in-house service team that just needs magnet monitoring and cryo-refrigeration services? We have the solution. Is your hospital planning on upgrading the scanners in your diagnostic imaging department and need to lease mobile CT and MRI systems to scan patients while the imaging suites are remodeled? We have the solution. Are you a free-standing cancer center who can’t take the financial risk of losing a CT tube and need full service coverage? Whatever the situation, we can help.
Q:
an you share some company C success stories with our readers – a time that you “saved the day” for a customer?
A: Yes, there are two recent situations that come to mind. The first is we had
Healthcare providers have diverse needs and requirements when it comes to MRI and CT imaging equipment, and we have a complete portfolio of solutions available to them. a customer who experienced a horrible electrical storm. Lightning struck the building causing a power surge so strong that it rendered the CT gantry inoperable. We had engineers onsite quickly, and after extensive troubleshooting and multiple part replacements, it was determined that the gantry couldn’t be restored. We had a replacement gantry in stock, so we decided to quickly ship and install the gantry reducing further down time and impact to patient care. This happened to a refurbished CT system we sold with a one-year warranty, and this event occurred during the warranty period. This experience demonstrated to our customer the lengths we would go to to stand behind our product and support them. We also had a recent situation where one of our customer’s MRI systems experienced a spontaneous quench in the middle of the night, and over the ICEMAGAZINE
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weekend. Our remote monitoring technology, OiVision, alerted us to the event immediately. We were able to get engineering onsite within the hour to replace the burst disc and stop further damage and helium loss. Within 48 hours of the quench, we had the magnet helium filled, ramped, shimmed and turned over to the customer for clinical use.
Q:
an you please describe your C company’s facility?
A: Yes, I feel this is another unique advantage we have. Oxford Instruments Healthcare has three Centers of Excellence nationwide dedicated to various aspects of our business. Our MRI hub of operations is based in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Our mobile fleet is stationed in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And our CT operation is headquartered in Vacaville, California. There is a combined total of 75,000 square feet across these locations. Each is ISO 13485:2016 certified, and I believe it is this unique blend of infrastructure, resources and expertise comparable to the OEMs combined with our flexible and entrepreneurial independent service organization culture that allows us to provide a customer experience second to none in the industry.
Q:
We maintain one of the largest inventories of CT & MRI replacement parts in the industry that have gone through our ISO 13485:2016 certified quality assurance processes, and meet or exceed OEM specifications. Get OEM quality without having to pay OEM prices.
What is on the horizon for your company?
A: With declining reimbursements, we understand that healthcare providers are under extreme pressure to do more with less, and to squeeze the most value out of every penny they can. We are dedicated to being first-to-market on newer MRI and CT technologies whether it be quality refurbished systems, maintenance options, replacement parts or mobile leasing solutions. We will continue to be well positioned to empower our customers to maximize their patient care, efficiency and revenue potential. ICE 34
We understand that healthcare providers are under extreme pressure to do more with less, and to squeeze the most value out of every penny they can.
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Oxford Instruments Healthcare is the #1 supplier of mobile imaging systems providing both shortterm and long-term leasing solutions in the United States and Canada.
For more information, visit www.oxinst.com/healthcare ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
Stay up and Running with Oxford Instruments Healthcare Because your uptime is everything. The trusted experts in MRI and CT service and refurbished equipment • Multi-vendor MRI & CT Service • Refurbished Equipment Sales • Mobile Imaging Solutions • MRI & CT Parts
www.oxinst.com/healthcare
888-878-3107
healthcare@oxisnt.com
cover story
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ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
cover story
MANAGING EMOTIONS AT WORK
What do you show up with when you show up?
BY MATT SKOUFALOS
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orking in the medical imaging space is stressful. On the client side, patient satisfaction is critical to reimbursement; on the management side, so is patient throughput. The success of either is rooted in technical responsibilities like budgeting, personnel, schedule management and device uptime, all of which require tight controls and are subject to ever-shifting institutional priorities. What happens to those high-stakes conditions when other stressors from personal life find their way into the picture? Jim Fedele, director of biomedical engineering at UPMC Susquehanna in Williamsport, Pennsylvania has spent 30 years managing the multitude of demands that go along with overseeing the people, processes and medical devices that power a 24-hour regional emergency hospital. In that time, he’s had to cool off many a frustrated colleague, especially as the health system has consolidated. Susquehanna Health was formed from the merger of Williamsport Regional Medical Center and two other hospitals in 1994; in 2016, those facilities were integrated into the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Along the way, responsibilities shifted, management handed down changes from the top, and, unsurprisingly, people weren’t always excited about them. “Once the honeymoon phase wears off,
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“ My mantra is practicing the pause. No good comes from shooting out an emotional response in that minute. Nobody wins if we escalate this bad behavior.”
and they have to start following the rules of the big corpoJim Fedele, director of biomedical engineering ration, they’re resistant to the change,” Fedele said. “They like to use port systems. When he’s working to get my guys as punching bags or for venting folks back online and operating at normal, their feelings. Once we start telling them, a key piece of that is doing his best to not ‘Hey, you can’t have this device here,’ all aggravate the concerns that have already the rules that go along with having a good, been raised. safe equipment management plan, now “Everybody wants to come in and do they start beating up on my guys.” a good job,” he said. “If you’re all here for Fedele’s strategy is typically to throw the same purpose, everyone has a job to cold water on the situation, but even he do, we’re all on the same team. If someconfesses he’ll have days in which he’ll one’s feeling frustration, I try to acknowl“write 30 emails about something to edge that frustration and see if there’s someone and delete all of them.” something we can do to help them.” “My mantra is practicing the pause,” Managers like Fedele, who can navigate Fedele said. “No good comes from shootsome of the thornier aspects of interpering out an emotional response in that sonal dynamics with some aplomb and minute. Nobody wins if we escalate this a decent amount of even-handedness, bad behavior.” aren’t the norm in any workplace, said Communication, or the lack thereof, Christine Pearson, professor of managealways “is the spark that lights the fire,” ment-global business at the Arizona State Fedele said. “The smoldering issues of University Thunderbird School of Global who’s in control, now it’s not your baby, Management. A researcher on organizaand having this corporation watching evtional crisis management and dysfuncerything you do, that’s behind the scenes tional behavior in organizations, Pearson … and then insert us.” has found that as many as 20 percent of There are always stressors in a small employees may never have worked under hospital, Fedele said, from managing a manager who could handle negative diverse and competing interests to dealing emotions – anger, fear and sadness – in with dysfunction and disconnected supthe workplace.
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“We know that those emotions come into play for us as human beings, even as we fulfill our jobs,” Pearson said. “Some of them actually brew within the workplace. When they’re ignored or stifled, they can cause a great deal of cost to the organization. It manifests in employee behaviors.” Whether in response to a personal circumstance or one that originates in or is aggravated by the workplace, when employees feel they’re treated badly, they respond with anger, fear or sadness, Pearson said. If so, workers won’t stay late, come in early or pitch in with responsibilities unrelated to their jobs to help a colleague. “There’s a continuum, and where the organization and the individuals in it believe they’re supposed to rate on that continuum along the way,” she said. “Problems arise when there’s a belief or a mandate that people aren’t to bring their emotions into the workplace, or to experience negative emotions in the workplace.”
“ Human beings have negative feelings, and some of them start and grow stronger because of things happening outside the workplace, some of them happen because of work, and some of them are fanned by the way that executives manage negative emotions. Christine Pearson, professor of management-global business
“Human beings have negative feelings, and some of them start and grow stronger because of things happening outside the workplace,” Pearson said. “Some of them happen because of work, and some of them are fanned by the way that executives manage negative emotions. In research we’ve done regarding incivility, it’s astounding how few employees have had a boss who addressed it.” Maybe the biggest hurdle to addressing workplace emotions is a decades-old norm that feelings are impermissible in
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the office setting, Pearson said. (Anger is “the most acceptable negative emotion in the workplace; sadness is on the other end of that continuum,” she noted.) Professionalism has been defined in many workplace cultures to exclude bringing into work the effects of whatever’s going on at home, “and if something upsets you in the workplace, you suck it up,” Pearson said. But once that thinking becomes entrenched for as long as it has been, it breeds managers that can’t respond otherwise – because they’ve never been led any differently themselves. “Because there’s a historical trend there, it’s very likely that people who were not able to rise to the need did not have role models who could rise to the need,” Pearson said. “It starts with the leaders. What have been the experiences they’ve had, and what are the repercussions that they’re aware of, and what were the potential repercussions that they could not have been aware of?” The first step for leaders is to “look in the mirror,” Pearson said. Without first acknowledging that emotions are real and can’t be turned off in the workplace, they can’t reach the next realization: that the messages they communicate to staff throughout their organizations can be as much of a motivating force for dealing with emotional issues that affect operations. “You can’t rationalize around the fact that we all have negative emotions,” Pearson said. “Coordination of work among employees and clients and patients; to think you’re going to keep negative emotions out of there is ludicrous. To get the leaders in the organization to see, ‘Where am I in all this? What could it be costing us?’ – it’s not an easy change.” “Things missed at their earliest time are cheapest do deal with,” Pearson said. “If employees get a really strong message from above that you should not be bringing anything into work that is emotionally tied, the idea that that is barred from the workplace actually causes people to still bring it. “ Pearson suggests that managers learn some basics around how to handle negative emotions without attempting
amateur psychology. Rather, she suggests making personal contact with people, acknowledging their struggles and trying to bring resources to bear on the circumstance as necessary. Those vary depending upon the concerns identified, but all originate with an internal audit of how individuals have learned to manage their own behaviors. “If you understand, you can see how someone else is going through negative emotions,” Pearson said. “Do you shy away from it because you don’t know how to work on it? Get in touch with how you relate to negative emotions, what blocks you and helps you, and what have you experienced that works – those issues spill out in terms of how you think about managing negative emotions now.” After coming from a foundational perspective of “respecting everyone,” Pearson offered some shorthand tips for dealing with the three primary negative emotions: anger, fear and sadness. When an employee is afraid, “don’t get sucked into their anger,” she said. “In many workplaces, that alone would make a tremendous difference,” Pearson said. When people are afraid, she recommends that managers “do something to get them moving forward,” which may mean setting them up for success with small, manageable tasks before thrusting something more challenging upon them. And in dealing with sadness, she suggests the best thing to do is to “connect people to their natural resources.” “If they need to work a few less hours or try to take some time off, try to connect them to their own support systems,” she said. “Try to avoid stepping into the role of coach or psychoanalyst.” Many such concerns can be evaluated during the hiring stage, too. Pearson recommends that managers try to get a sense of what prospective employees are like as human beings by using team interviews and input from existing employees before adding a new personality into the mix. She also recommends “doing really good background checks on people going into leadership positions.”
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“Each of these things can have a huge impact,” Pearson said. The best way to make headway with negative emotions, or any emotions, is not to work around them or suppress them, but to allow them to rise to the surface so they may be dealt with. Maiga Milbourne, a nine-year yoga teacher and trainer from Merchantville, New Jersey, suggests that the concept of managing emotions can undercut the usefulness of experiencing emotions, the better to comprehend the impulses that underlie them. “A lot of us do so much managing already, and because we’re so schooled on what behavior is appropriate, we’re not even fully experiencing the emotional responses that we have,” Milbourne said. “Without the fullness of these experiences, you can’t be fully aware of who you are, and how to operate. I think some of that might be what’s behind people’s reactivity.” In yogic traditions, humans have many different aspects of experience – physical, intellectual, emotive, intuitive – and some or many of these selves may be underdeveloped. To Milbourne, there’s an implicit cultural idea that “emotions are invalid and
should be controlled so we can get to the superior intellect.” But cutting off those feelings is cutting off another intake point for useful information, she said. “Emotions and the information that comes from emotions are useful and probably have a place for how we should function,” Milbourne said. “It’s not to say that they are the endgame, but that we should have room for them. If I have awareness about my emotional field, then it’s less likely to drive my actions, behaviors and interactions in the workplace. If I don’t afford myself the space to get aware of that, then it’s going to govern me.” Yoga, which is frequently recommended in the health care space as a vital exercise for physical and emotional wellness, has a tradition of “naming especially the subtle things,” Milbourne said, which offers a useful approach to understanding feelings by universalizing impulses we may have understood as personally specific. “We start to understand that most of these experiences we go through aren’t unique, so we’re able to say, ‘this is another piece of my experience, but it’s not a problem necessarily,’ ” she said. “Yoga is varied
“ A lot of us do so much managing already, and because we’re so schooled on what behavior is appropriate, we’re not even fully experiencing the emotional responses that we have.” Maiga Milbourne, yoga teacher/trainer
enough to encompass all of this because there’s some kind of inherent recognition that underneath we’re really diverse.” “It’s easy to feel like other people are the problem and the world is happening to you,” Milbourne said. “Yoga would disagree. We’re all here for an experience, and so much of the experience we perceive as happening outside of ourselves is happening in the interior.” “What would be healthy for everyone is if we had the safety and security and the time to get to baseline regulation,” she said. “A lot of us don’t even know what we’re missing to know what we’re looking for.” ICE
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CAREER CENTER
Written by Cindy Stephens Stephens International Recruiting Inc.
Adapting Your Leadership Style to Manage Today’s Challenges
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n today’s Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) environment of staff shortages, budget restraints and constant changes in technology, it can certainly lead to turmoil and frustration in the workplace. Managers must be able to adapt their leadership style to manage a chaotic environment that includes constant fluctuations and changes in health care technological advancements. They need to determine the best strategies to overcome obstacles and lead their team to achieve success in this complex and unpredictable environment. Change can be very disruptive and a sudden need for upgrades in health care technology, restructuring or downsizing can ultimately have an impact on the stability of the team and the organization. Managers should be prepared to anticipate changes in this very competitive environment and consider new strategies and processes. They also should be prepared to address anything that may arise at a moment’s notice. It is not simple to suddenly change direction for an entire department. However flexibility and focus on the vision and the goals of the organization allow managers to inspire and ensure the conditions allow the team to perform and achieve success. There are many things leaders can 40
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do to better prepare for change. A good leader must possess the skills and ability to anticipate and manage change. Leaders have various backgrounds and experiences, but most share similar skill sets. Excellent leaders are self-confident, organized and have strong values. Passion, commitment, decision-making ability and strong communication skills are critical to be an effective leader. These qualities help inspire and facilitate the team to accomplish their responsibilities and are especially important during periods of change or transition. Managers should utilize strategic planning skills to anticipate change, too, which should align with the vision, goals and budget of the organization. Amid change, managers may need to reconsider priorities to ensure the team can accommodate and achieve success in an efficient and orderly manner. To assist leaders in determining potential changes, it may be helpful to consider some of the following: • What new technology improvements are needed in the department or the organization that impact the overall workload of the team? • Are there new systems or processes that need to be adopted and do any of the employees need training to adapt
to the new technological advances or processes? • Consider the expectations of the staff, patients and other customers. Are enhancements needed to assist your department’s support of them? Whether physical or technological modifications, think of features that will improve customer service. • It is equally important to assess the impact of changes and adapt the appropriate resources to accomplish the initiative. Consider whether a major project has the appropriate budget, time and resources to handle the necessary changes. • If training is required, request that the new technology includes manufacturer training for an individual and the entire team. One key to facilitating success in a changing environment is to motivate yourself and your team. Make a positive difference by focusing on what is important. Exhibiting a positive attitude and maintaining integrity at all times is very important, with the end-goal to include improved customer service and team performance. Leaders who demonstrate sincere enthusiasm can motivate their teams to achieve success and overcome many challenges, especially when the team is included in the planning and incorporation of the ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
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necessary changes. Effective managers are able and willing to respond professionally to different perspectives of their team. Solicit and utilize the experience of your staff. It is important to remain open-minded and communicate to your team with sensitivity and respect. Their diversity of generations, experiences and opinions can be invaluable to the acceptance and success of a major project initiative. Be prepared and stay motivated even in the face of obstacles or setbacks. Remain flexible and willing to adjust your plan when necessary. Sometimes you may need to take a detour along the way, but don’t get discouraged and let this throw you completely off course. Stay committed and keep going. Successful leaders are proactive and create a strategy that will include a clear plan of action with a list of priorities, timelines and resources. These effective managers will devote a significant effort to lead the team through the chaos, resolving problems and producing results by involving everyone in the change initiative that allows them to succeed. Adapting your leadership style to manage today’s challenges will ensure success in facilitating your team in this complicated and consistently changing HTM environment. ICE
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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING By Abdul Alsaadi
T
here are numerous advantages to outsourcing imaging equipment service to a competent vendor. Outsourcing radiology and imaging equipment to a third-party vendor can provide flexible and customized support. A third-party vendor’s attention is individualized to each entity and results in the success of the health care organization it supports. When deciding on the right vendor, it is essential to evaluate their repair quality methods, processes and procedures. Engineers that are working on equipment should be certified by a reputable institution and have the necessary training needed for the repairs. Third-party vendors provide hybrid support. This notion can be articulated via their provision of better options that allow a department to select their technology platforms. This opportunity presents a chance for hospitals to build solutions for their imaging equipment that best suits their unique circumstances. Furthermore, vendors keep their warehouses stocked with replacements so that they can support multiple lines of needs as long as clients deem necessary. Therefore, they provide the same quality of replacements as the OEM, but more quickly. It is necessary to minimize the downtime of equipment because it not only effects patients but also the hospital’s revenue and reputation. It is important to make sure the imaging equipment is up and ready for use 42
ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2019
at all times. Another important factor to keep in mind is the cost to maintain and sustain the longevity of the equipment, without hindering the quality of Abdul Alsaadi, Ph.D., service. CEO of Medzon It is vital to have a competent third-party vendor that is technology driven, has experience in working at a variety of hospitals and has methods to reduce significant cost, while improving quality. Moreover, they provide flexible month-to-month or multiple-year contracts and, in case of an emergency, respond to an organization’s needs quickly. A qualified vendor has an advantage from working at so many different hospitals. They are more equipped to handle problems, have undergone more thorough training and have more experience. It is much better to work smarter, not harder, especially in the fast-changing health care space. One example that outlines this philosophy is utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict equipment failures. Predicting when equipment fails means preparing for the repair and ordering the parts needed, which reduces downtime of equipment to as low as 1 to 3%. A third-party vendor can make the hospital ready for even the most strict and challenging inspection agencies such DNV and TJC. The third-party company should be a part
of the hospital, not a separate entity. This means that not only will they manage or maintain the department, but they will also bring in innovative ideas and solutions to the hospitals they work with. The goal is to elevate the overall quality of a hospital and forecast upcoming challenges. End of life equipment is a prominent subject that has been a rising topic of debate. The question is whether hospitals should replace equipment or take the risk of using it for another decade. Hospitals worry that equipment cannot be maintained, and that they will be unable to source the parts needed. It is essential in this situation to have competent, qualified and capable vendors, especially when working with high-risk imaging equipment. Going with the wrong vendor is an enormous risk that can negatively affect cost, downtime of equipment and patient safety. Only a vendor that is technology driven with an abundance of experience, resources and knowledge can get the job done. In summary, if a hospital intends to be a spearhead in technology, generate revenue and improve overall quality, it should consider a third-party company. Third-party companies offer a multitude of advantages such as experience, resources and knowledge gained from working with a variety of different hospitals over the years. All of these advantages are needed to keep up with the rapidly evolving health care industry. ICE ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
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IMAGING MATTERS
Written by John Garrett Director of a Clinical Engineering Department in CHI
Hiring Service
F
requently there is a comparison of the service of medical equipment to the service of one’s automobile. The comparison is one most people can relate to easily and it helps to explain some of the service choices that are made by hospitals and imaging centers. The explanation typically goes something like, “You can take your car to the dealer for service if you like. Yes they will take care of the car, but there may be a better option. There may be an Independent Service Organization (ISO) that will not only take care of the car, but do it more efficiently and at a lower cost. Due to the flexibility of the ISO, they may be able to offer more customized services that have a better fit than the dealer or manufacturer.” The explanation is accurate. But, there are several other things to consider that do not apply to getting your oil changed. How big is the ISO? Are they in a position financially that will allow them to take on the risk of the contract? If you sign a contract to have full service on four CT units, what happens if all four CTs blow a tube in the same month? Four CT tubes could cost over half a million dollars. That could close a company that is not financially big enough or properly leveraged to absorb that part of a contract. Will the ISO survive the cost of a worst-case scenario? What are the local resources? This WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
“Therefore anyone hired to perform the service should really be an extension of the hospital or medical facility.” applies to manufacturers as well as the ISO. Do they have enough equipment and manpower? If they have a single service engineer, is that enough for a time when you have a hard down system to ensure you receive the priority that you need? If you are considering a contract, do you have a minimum manpower guarantee for the area as part of that contract? This will impact the ability to meet response times and actual repair times. In the future this may be considered as important as response times. You may think, “Well, we have guaranteed uptime of 99% so that would cover it.” But do the math. If you have a machine that is considered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, that is a total of 8,760 hours. If you are down 1% of that year that would be 87.6 hours of down time. If you have 95% uptime guarantee, that equals up to 438 hours of downtime for a unit that runs 24 hours a day. Ideally,
any provider of service would not be concerned with that much downtime in a year. But if the manpower is not there, you might find yourself reviewing the contract and talking to the legal department. Finally, does the company supplying your service understand the core values of your company? Are they aligned to match the expectations that others in the facility will have for them? This is important for long-term solutions to service. The idea of bringing a company in to do service is based on not having the expertise in house. Therefore anyone hired to perform the service should really be an extension of the hospital or medical facility. The patients will see them and interact. So, beyond the need to be fiscally sound, and adequately staffed, the company hired to perform your maintenance should present an image that is acceptable and in line with the facility. ICE ICEMAGAZINE
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FORGET EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT SERVICING ULTRASOUND
I
’ve worked in health care for, well, a long time. People who work in our field know that certain constants remain the focus of what we do: Creating solutions for customer challenges, delivering stellar customer service and enabling the best possible patient outcomes. Now, forget everything else. That’s because the “why” we do what we do will never change, but the “how” will never remain the same. Beyond the Track Ball and Keys … Remember the days of trackballs and keyboards for ultrasound machines? Hardware and manual controls have given way to software and high-resolution touch screens for both user display and user interfaces. The footprint of equipment is smaller and less obtrusive than ever before. The smaller ultrasound footprint allows for greater portability. Just 10 years ago, all ultrasound machines were large. Today, we see devices that fit within the palm of your hand, such as the Vscan Extend, bringing health care to parts of the world that previously didn’t have access to medical imaging technology. And that just scratches the surface. To understand the future of service, we must understand the future of ultrasound. We’re seeing technologies such as smartphones and tablets working with ultrasound probes. The probe is becoming increasingly complex and able to connect 46
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directly to consumer products. … To the Cloud And the biggest technology trends that will impact ultrasound and service are the abilities for devices to be connected digitally and to gather data for artificial intelligence, analytics and system surveillance. Equipment is becoming smarter all the time, gathering machine data and creating actionable insights that enable better clinical and operational outcomes. One of the future capabilities will be around managing user presets. Through cloud-based management tools, biomeds and health care technology professionals will be able to store data and quickly deploy it across an entire fleet of equipment. This will even allow clinicians to share users’ presets with their peers. Cloud data management will save biomeds time while driving standardization for hospitals and may even raise the level of care for ultrasound exams. What are we talking about when we say machine data? First, we must have the ability to pull data from the system. This can be information such as temperature, power and log files. We push that data real-time to a cloudbased server for storage and for visualization, so we can optimize staffing or understand capital equipment needs. Data could also be used to minimize equipment downtime by creating alerts and triggers for proactive failures.
Written by Gary Bobb General Manager GE Healthcare Service
The ability to measure data over time and to create smart algorithms could help us better understand how, why and when failures happen. In the future, we will be able to predict and know an ultrasound system is broken before it breaks. Connected systems could change the way we service equipment. Traditionally, you would have to be at a console to diagnose and fix the equipment. In the future, more connected systems will help enable biomeds and health care technology professionals to maintain their entire fleet of equipment remotely. Web-based applications will be able to perform diagnostics, enable software deployment and even push software fixes. The biomed of the future will be able to maintain an entire ultrasound install base from his desk or even through her smartphone. From Analog to Digital Just like technology in everything from automobiles to social media, probes are more complex than ever before. The future is now, as we’re seeing the “next generation” of probes today. And they’re built differently than in the past. How do we know this? GE Healthcare has great visibility and insight into the entire life cycle of GE Healthcare equipment. We’re connected to the IoT as well as mobile devices. In fact, at AAMI this year, GE Healthcare displayed AR and VR, both driven by the same affordability factor of ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
insight technology that we see in the consumer market. Power to the People The rapid evolution of ultrasound means our processes – and our people – are evolving, too. One of the challenges specific to ultrasound, unique to other imaging modalities, is the size of the install base to manage. Ultrasound is a growing modality within hospitals, and biomeds are challenged with managing their growing equipment count. To add to the complexity, many larger hospitals might have multiple brands, multiple models for each brand, and even multiple generations of equipment. Just managing the install base alone can be frustrating, especially for larger sites. And that dynamic is happening against the backdrop of generational change. Today’s biomeds and related professionals have new ways of thinking, learning and working. They crave digital
solutions and on-demand learning. They expect devices to be smarter. At the end of the day, they’re consumers of technology, too, whether we’re talking about using the newest smartphone, driving an AI-enabled vehicle or searching for a new show for binge-watching: We work the way we live. Plus, more and more in-house programs across the country are managing and performing their own service and maintenance. The Regulatory Environment… The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has issued draft guidance, called “Marketing Clearance of Diagnostic Ultrasound Systems and Transducers.” What does it mean for OEMs? As one aspect of changes proposed in this guidance, any filings after final release will need to include how we will implement appropriate testing of transducers. GE Healthcare is committed to staying up-to-date as any new FDA guidance is issued or existing guidance revised and to
internally evaluating process changes that might be needed. Who’s In? Nothing is constant except change. Equipment technology will advance; biomeds’ work styles will evolve. The questions to ask yourself are “Will you keep up? How?” There’s really no option. Either you’re in or you’re left behind. OEMs should work closely with biomeds, field engineers and other, similar professionals to stay tightly aligned on what works and what doesn’t. If I know anything about the people I work with who help support the services we provide for the health care equipment industry, it’s that we’re committed: Committed to producing solutions for customer challenges, delivering stellar customer service and enabling the best possible patient outcomes. And, those things will never change. – Gary Bobb is the general manager of GE Healthcare Service.
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THE THREE PARTS YOU NEED TO BUILD A MAGIC WAND
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magine sitting in a brainstorming meeting coming up with ways to make your workplace better. After some healthy debates, your team decides on some changes that will create a better way of doing things. Unfortunately, when you try to roll out the plan, you get nothing but resistance. Don’t you wish you had a magic wand that could help people see that changes need to be made? Trying to implement change can be tough. People dig in their heels and resist, in large part because of the way the human brain functions. There are neurological processes that must occur before people agree to changes, and not knowing about these processes can create unnecessary stress. Thankfully, there are things we can do to bring about faster and better adaptation to needed change. In this article, I’d like to point out three components that allow you to build a magic wand for implementing change in the best possible way. I need to point out that these three components do not originate with me. They were identified by David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz in their research on the neuroscience of leadership. The first component is focus. The second is expectation. And finally, attention density. Focus A person’s focus is extremely powerful. Consider the phrase, “That on which you focus you get more of.” By focusing our attention on something, we stabilize our 48
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brain circuitry. When working with teams to effect change, the first thing to do is get people focused, and that means giving them a desired picture of the future. Usually done with word pictures, the idea is to give your team a mental image of what you want, not what you don’t want. This is important, because mental circuitry resists being changed once a picture is in place. Ever try to get someone to do something by telling them what you didn’t want them to do? The story that made the biggest impact on me regarding the importance of proper focus comes from one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history, Warren Spahn. In game four of the 1957 World Series, Spahn was one out away from winning the game for his team, the Milwaukee Braves. Tension was high. It was the top of the ninth and the Braves were ahead 4-1, but two men were on base for the New York Yankees and respected slugger Elston Howard was at the plate with a full count. Spahn’s manager, apparently trying to break the tension, called “time” and came out to the mound. The only thing he said was, “Whatever you do, don’t throw him a high outside pitch.” After the manager returned to the dugout, the only words flashing through Spahn’s mind were “high” and “outside.” That inadvertently became his focus, and as you might imagine, Spahn’s next pitch was high and outside. Howard swung on it for a home run and tied the game.
Written by Daniel Bobinski Workplace Consultant
Although the Braves eventually went on to win the game and the series itself, Spahn shared this story with many groups throughout the years, questioning why anyone would ever motivate another person by giving them a mental picture of what they didn’t want. In terms of focus, paint a picture of what you want, not what you don’t want. Expectation The second magic wand component is the power of expectation. To illustrate this, consider two executives: One sees workers primarily as lazy while the other sees them as desiring to do their best. Each one will look for – and see – behaviors that validate their expectations. If people don’t see what they’re expecting, their brains perceive an error, and errors often create a sense of fear. Since people don’t like being in error or in fear, they tend to look very hard to see what they want to see, even if it isn’t there! Because fear is an obstacle to making changes, team leaders must create what I call “emotionally safe conditions” for people to be open to change. They can do that by asking people to explore possibilities. In other words, come up with their own expectations. The important thing is to let team members see possibilities on their own terms. People rarely believe things will be better just because you say so. Attention Density The component that ties everything ADVANCING THE IMAGING PROFESSIONAL
insight
“ Your magic wand is for bringing about positive change, and bringing it about in its best form and with greater buy-in.” together is attention density. This phrase refers to the amount of attention given to a particular subject over time. Stated another way, talking about change is not a one-and-done thing. You must keep talking about the big picture and exploring possibilities with people on a regular basis. Attention density is one of the reasons executive coaching is so effective. A one-day training workshop puts you face-to-face with new material for eight hours straight. But if you acquire that learning one hour per week over eight weeks, you’ve devoted the same amount of time, but you internalize a much higher percentage of the subject matter because of the two things we’ve talked about. First, your brain gets to stabilize its mental circuits on the subject (focus), and second, you’ve had time to recognize and own the possibilities that accompany the changes being made (expectation). These three components are equally powerful when you want to implement change in your workplace. • Talk about the big picture (Focus) • Ask people about their ideas (Expectation) • Do both of these often, and do them informally (Attention Density) By the way, as you interact with people, you can also share insights other team members have had, thus building momentum and unity. Also, never correct anyone if their ideas aren’t exactly what you’d like to hear. Your magic wand is for bringing about positive change, and bringing it about in its best form and with greater buy-in. Bottom line, putting focus, expectation and attention density together forms a powerful tool – a magic wand, if you will – for sharing information, capturing ideas and getting everyone rowing together in the direction of needed change. – Daniel Bobinski, M.Ed. is a certified behavioral analyst, a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. He loves working with teams and coaching individuals to help them achieve workplace excellence. Reach him through his website, www.MyWorkplaceExcellence.com, or (208) 375-7606. ICE WWW.THEICECOMMUNITY.COM
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index
ADVERTISER INDEX Adel Lawrence Associates, Inc. p. 43
Holland LP p. 41
ULTRASOUND QA & TRAINING PHANTOMS
Ampronix, Inc. p. 4
Injector Support & Service p. 14
MedWrench p. 39
Medzon Health p. 42
RSTI/Radiological Service Training Institute p. 3
RTI, Inc. p. 28
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ATS Laboratories/CIRS p. 17
Innovatus Imaging p. 9
Mountain States Biomedical Services p. 22
DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING & SURGICAL SOLUTIONS
Brandywine Imaging p. 43
Carolina Medical Parts p. 14
Diagnostic Solutions p. 13
Exclusive Medical Solutions, Inc. p. 30
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ICEMAGAZINE | JULY 2019
International Medical Equipment & Service p. 47
KEI MED Parts p. 17
MarShield p. 41
Medical Imaging Technologies p. 44
Multi Diagnostic Imaging Solutions Back Cover
MW Imaging Corp. p. 5
Oxford Instruments Healthcare p. 35
PM Imaging Management p. 43
Sodexo CTM p. 49
SOLUTIONS
Tri-Imaging Solutions p. 6
Trisonics p. 2, 22
W7 Global p. 30
Webinar Wednesday p. 29
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