Biomedical Equipment Technicians

Employers

Approximately 66,400 biomedical equipment technicians are employed in the United States. Thirty-seven percent of technicians are employed by professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Others work for hospitals, offices of physicians and other health care practitioners, research institutes, independent service organizations, biological laboratories, wholesale suppliers, health and personal care stores, and biomedical equipment manufacturers. Government hospitals and the military also employ biomedical equipment technicians.

Starting Out

Most schools offering programs in biomedical equipment technology work closely with local hospitals and industries, and career services counselors are usually informed about openings when they become available. In some cases, recruiters may visit a school periodically to conduct interviews. Also, many schools place students in part-time hospital jobs to help them gain practical experience. Students are often able to return to these hospitals for full-time employment after graduation.

Another effective method of finding employment is to communicate directly with hospitals, research institutes, or biomedical equipment manufacturers regarding job openings. Other good sources of leads for job openings include state employment offices, newspaper want ads, and the Web sites of professional associations such as the Advanced Medical Technology Association (https://careers.advamed.org) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (https://www.aami.org/membership/career-center).

New hires typically observe and assist experienced technicians for three to six months until they learn the ropes and are gradually given more independent tasks.