Medical Engineer

Patrick L O’Meley

Nationality: Australian

Address: ** ******* *****

LATHAM, ACT, 2615

AUSTRALIA

Home: +61 2-961**-****

Mobile: +61-413-***-***

e-mail: ********@*****.***

Career Goal

Widely experienced, multi-talented, technical manager and specialist, aiming to make a

major contribution to the profession of Clinical Engineering

Skills

Management: Experienced manager of staff, budget, and revenue

Business: Qualifications and experience in Public and Private sector Health and ICT

Technology: Specialist, high-level expertise in all types of medical equipment

Computing: Superior knowledge of applications and operating systems

Education: Award winning, development of staff, courses, and presentations

Innovation: Award winning innovator, particularly engineering and work process

Education

Master of Biomedical Engineering - University of New South Wales 1995

Thesis: Computer-controlled Heart Lung Machine.

Graduate Diploma of Business - Deakin University 1995

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) - University of Adelaide 1991

Award: Final Year Design Prize – novel bearing greasing arrangement

Award: Final Year A.R. Riddle Scholarship

Employment

Assistant Director, Office of the CIO

Department of Immigration (Jun 2012 to present)

Senior position with federal government department. Provide direct support the CIO at

meetings, presentations as well as learning the complexities of the large scale

development of bespoke software solutions and the management of infrastructure on a

global scale.

Notable Achievements:

• Re-writing the new-starters handbook and publishing this on the team’s SharePoint

site, enabling updates and modifications to the “live” version. This has improved

efficiency of communication within the team.

• Completion of ITIL Foundations training

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• Submission of a paper merging Clinical Support Services and IT Support Services

using the ITIL framework. This is to be presented at the ABEC national conference in

Sydney in October.

Director of Biomedical Engineering

Sydney South West Area Health Service (Jun 2006 to Jun 2012)

Responsible for managing and developing the Biomedical Engineering Service across a

large portion of Sydney. Management of staff, budget and priorities for a large range of

equipment. Service comprised around 30 staff and 5 major workshops, 10 major hospitals

(>300 beds) and included Renal Services, Radiation Oncology Services, as well as

general Biomed equipment. Included Neonatal, Operating Theatres, ICU, and general

wards. Responsible for a wide variety of activities at multiple sites including management

of contracts, setting priorities, development of policy and procedures. writing numerous

briefs, reports and memos for executive.

Notable achievements:

• Implementation of a new database, including design of all codes and

nomenclature, and writing the user guide. Awarded innovation prize at users

conference in 2012.

• Improved management of Recalls, AS3551 Testing, and Contracts by integrating

these into the database

• Redesign of process and procedures for routine safety inspections through a

hierarchical form structure as well as writing and revising the form content.

• Expansion and improvement of the service at many levels. For example reducing

external component expenditure from $1.4m to $900K, reducing “missed inspections”

from 60% to less than 5%. Increased staff by five, opened three new workshops,

amalgamated outlying services and reduced contractor bill by $2m

• Presentation of much of the results at conferences and in internal documents.

Award best presentation at SMBE in 2011.

• Conception, creation, and formation of BMEG group to facilitate state-wide

cooperation between public sector Biomedical Engineers. Within BMEG developed a

system of Guidance Documents and authored the first releases of many.

• Developed a novel technique for measuring and managing risk for medical

equipment to ensure effort is directed where it will make a difference. This work has

shaped the development of the database and other work processes.

• Control financial risk by developing an expense tracking system using Excel that

predicts and graphs expenditure over the year to ensure adequate control and review.

• For encouragement of the staff, instituted a Biomed of the Year Award for

documented major contribution.

National Support Specialist (Cardiac Monitoring Systems &Acute Medical-IT)

Philips Healthcare Australasia – (Aug 2000 to Jun 2006)

Responsible for third tier support of product portfolio which included all Cardiac Monitoring

products and the Acute Care and Cardiology Med-IT products as the most senior technical

role within Australia. Responsible for, recalls and hazard notices, escalation resolution,

critical parts determination and management, new product introduction, local training, and

process improvements. Worked closely with the Call-Centre Engineers and provided

assistance to them and the Field Engineers as required. Also involved in installation and

field support – particularly for newer products while the field team received on-the-job

training. Travelled extensively in Australia as well as New Zealand. Completed many

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training courses in Europe, Asia, and the USA. Both led and participated in several quality

projects. Developed a national reputation for expertise and won company awards for

development of people. Through re-write of some training material and developing

summaries of key technologies, as well as Handy Hints guides improved service response

in the field.

Earlier, as a Field Service Team Leader supervised 3 other engineers as well as carrying a

full load of field support, installation and training associated with all Cardiac Monitoring

products and the more complex Med-IT products such as Tracemaster/TracemasterVue,

CareVue, DeviceLink and OBTraceVue, Application Server, Database Server etc.

First engaged as a contractor directly involved in field support, installation and training

associated with all Cardiac Monitoring products, Defibs, CTGs as well as Tracemaster.

Other duties included growing the contracts income and maintaining the install base

information.

Notable Achievements:

• Standardisation and recording all device configurations on a shared drive

which enabled faster and safer service. Also suggested to the factory the

need for a standard “build” for shipping to Australia. This took some time but

was implemented by 2006.

• Technical lead for move of the service desk from Melbourne to Sydney,

including fitout, staff selection and training. This was a big success. Notably

the daily waiting jobs reduced from around 50 to nil in the course of three

months and use of rewriting our own “quick reference tools” facilitated

improved operations

• As field team leader our contracts revenue nearly doubled through selling a

simple “value proposition” we developed ourselves. We won plaudits at the

annual staff conference for our efforts.

• Created a website for recording details of customer sites for use by the

service desk. When talking to a customer on the phone they could call up a

picture of the customer’s equipment (or server room) and describe to them

which button to press, or light to look for – this improved caller satisfaction

and reduced need for field visits. This was particularly important for remote

centres in the outback.

• Wrote a service password guide for most systems to eliminate nonsense calls

from the field. This was very popular and allowed staff to get on with the job

without delay. Where the password was sensitive it was encoded in a way

those with adequate training could understand.

• Participated in several quality improvement competitions – these were

focused on cycle time reduction. In one instance we were able to bring the

time from enquiry to full quote delivered from a typical 4 weeks to three days.

This improved customer satisfaction and we expected to see increased quote

to sales conversions but I left before this metric was available.

National Support Manager and Biomedical Engineer:

APS Equipmed – (June 1999 to Aug 2000)

This small private company sells a wide variety of medical equipment to private practice.

The equipment included patient monitors, stress systems (CH2000), defibrillators,

diagnostic ultrasound, lasers, ECG machines, spirometers, autoclaves and others. Duties

included both field support and management of technical staff and interstate sub-

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contractors. Responsible for writing and implementing all policies and procedures for the

Service Business, coordination of sub-contractors interstate.

Notable Achievements

• Service revenue recovered to profitability during my short tenure. This was achieved

by adapting the customer database for creating invoices for work hours and parts

used. This was simple but effective.

• Cataloging and re-organisation of all spares (making sure we had sufficient common

items on hand based on estimated usage)

• Writing all policy and service documents previously there were none. These were an

important part of the post-service documentation to customers to provide evidence of

work done and assurance of performance.

• Established a system of service contracts with different levels of support using simple

estimates of expected costs and labour times. These were well received by customers

and management and were a significant factor in the reversing the finances of the

service section.

Director and Biomedical Engineer:

ProBiomed – (June 1997 to Aug 1999)

Concurrently with other employment developed and sold a Medical Equipment

Management System to hospitals. This structured system of documentation and reporting

enabled Nurse Managers to control their equipment support directly and efficiently. For a

time ProBiomed was my only source of income. Also subcontracted to a major Y2K

evaluation and testing company. Produced many comprehensive reports to hospitals,

private health companies and government detailing their readiness and exposure to Y2K

issues. This was a frantic time with many tight deadlines to be met. Assisted in developing

a comprehensive database, and systematic approach, that enabled both the deadlines to

be met and high quality reports to be produced without wasted effort and repetition of

research.

Notable Achievements

• Creation and sale of unique service offering into public and private health facilities

• Reconfiguration of the Y2K database to ensure minimal effort and duplication in

creation of reports. Allowing multiple reports to be created simultaneously

• Provision of professional support to various hospitals through investigations and

reports.

Manager of Biomedical Engineering:

Bankstown & Lidcombe Hospitals – (Jan 1996 to Dec 1997)

As the sole Biomedical Engineer at a 450 bed acute care hospital responsible for a wide

range of duties from writing and evaluating major equipment tenders, performing

equipment repairs on all types of medical equipment from theatres, ICU and wards. It was

a very challenging time. Duties included the consolidation of two hospital sites into one.

Wrote all policy and procedures, implemented a database and managed all medical

equipment.

Notable Achievements

• Re-establishment of an in-house service after many years of contractor outsourcing,

including combining workshops from two campuses, establishing the equipment

database, and writing all processes. This resulted in considerable cost savings.

• Commissioned all equipment into the new 450 bed hospital, through coordinating

contractors and carrying out much hands-on work.

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• Running tenders for a wide variety of equipment to fit-out the new hospital, including

patient monitors, anaesthetic machines, suction outlets, humidicribs, defibrillators

• Reduced breakdown turn-around from weeks to days for most repairs.

• Recovery of many tens of thousands of dollars of test equipment being held by the

contractor – reducing the need to purchase new items.

Biomedical Engineer (Cardiac Surgery and ICU)

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital – (Jan 1991 to Jan 1996)

My career in Biomedical Engineering started at RPAH. Apart from Biomedical Engineer,

had a variety of other concurrent roles including, Pacemaker Technician, Balloon Pump

Technician, ABG Technician, Departmental Business Manager. Normal duties included

service and repair of HP patient monitors (Merlin, Minishot, Orion, Telem & CCM) and

other ICU equipment such and ventilators, infusion devices and defibs (including design

and construction of an R-wave detector for synch). Responsible for the pacemaker and

ICD implant and follow-up, including attendance at clinics, emergency assessments,

recalls and explants. Acted as the Head of Biomedical Engineering shortly before my

move to Bankstown.

Notable Achievements

• Expanding from departmental responsibilities to include business management and

hospital-wide services

• Completion of Masters and Business degrees at night

• Discovery and rectification of the procedural error costing the department tens of

thousands of dollars and recovering a large portion of the lost funds through

cooperation with finance and hospital executive.

• Establishment of the first computerized system of maintenance records for medical

equipment.

• Managing and extending a PC network (as there was no IT department to assist)

• Running pacemaker clinics and assisting in the establishment of the “special clinic” for

difficult cases. Including training staff in pacemaker follow-up and how to refer pts to

the special clinic.

• Writing the business case for the establishment of the central biomed dept. Where

previously isolated biomeds (me included) ran their own workshop.

• Winning the innovative ideas completion for the “how to manual” I wrote for the BME

department – prior to its establishment.

• Part of the team to establish ECMO, and TEE in the Cardiac Unit which included

lectures on ultrasound theory, fluid dynamics, and training new doctors

• Acting as Head of Dept for Biomed.

Other Earlier Employment - (1981 to 1991)

Prior to graduation in 1991, positions held in Manufacturing, Mining, Education, and

Defence - commonly as a trainee or process worker. Details available on request.

Notable Achievements

• Senior Officer Candidate – Royal Australian Navy Officer Candidate School (1981)

• Naval Association Prize “Most Outstanding Officer Candidate” on Graduation (1982)

• Promotion to Midshipman – Royal Australian Naval College (1983)

Special Skills and Abilities

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Communication

Demonstrated ability to communicate with people at all levels in an organisation. Given

many presentations at conferences and meetings in medical technology. Consistently

demonstrated communication skills well above average.

People Management

Extensive experience in successfully managing and building teams. Flexible/contingent

management style, being coach when required, director when needed, follower when

persuaded. Demonstrated ability to manage difficult employees and achieve outcomes.

Biomedical and Clinical Engineering

Highly qualified, widely experienced, passionate, leading practitioner. Demonstrated high-

level specialist skills in all aspects of Patient Monitoring and associated IT Systems –

particularly HP/Agilent/Philips equipment but also others. Highly tuned problem solving

skills. Experience in conducting technical review of patient incidents. Vast experience in

writing specifications, evaluation reports as well as writing responses to tenders.

Continued self-directed learning in Microprocessor Systems Design and Operation to

improve trouble-shooting skills on these devices. Widely read and have developed novel

evidence-based methods of managing Recalls and Risk within Biomedical Eng.

Education

Completed training in education from Australian Catholic University. Developed and

delivered technical training in a wide range of topics including Australian Standards,

Troubleshooting, Professionalism in Engineering, Patient Monitoring (of course), Basic

Cardiac Physiology as well as other technical and clinical topics.

Personal

Well developed personal resilience. A high degree of team spirit and self-motivation, and a

strong desire to develop and implement improvements in products and processes. Never

satisfied unless solving problems and making things work better.

Computers and IT

IT is a strong second technical specialty. Highly developed knowledge of Microsoft

applications such as Excel, Word, Access, Powerpoint, Project, Visio etc.

Experience in admin and technical skills related to Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

including NT4, XP, Win2K and 2K3. Well develop skills with other Operating Systems

including UNIX and some of its derivatives such as LINUX and Android.

Good working knowledge of database administration including SQL Server. An expert user

in Logistic and Maintenance database applications. Experience and sound knowledge of

networking, computer security and high-availability systems. Have also undertaken private

studies in IIS, DotNET, ASP, and distributed web databases and Android for mobility

solutions.

Through these activities demonstration of keeping up-to-date with the increasing IT

component of medical equipment and management of technology in general. Have written

technical summaries on many of these topics to assist colleagues in understanding these

technologies.

Clinical

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Strong background in cardio-vascular systems. Extensive experience of Pacemakers and

ICD, including implantation and followup. Continually undertaking self-directed learning in

Anatomy and Physiology, medications, disease, treatment and emerging technologies

such as stem cells.

Writing

Demonstrated high-level expertise and extensive experience in professional writing

including: technical documents, reports and briefing notes, many policy and user manuals,

lengthy and extended Technical Specifications, developed simple pro-forma quotation

request tools for ease of use. Recently developed a system of Guidance Documents for

BMEG as supplements to existing standards. Principal Editor and main contributor to al

four editions of the SMBE Biomed Pocketbook.

Recent Publications and Presentations

• “The Lucky Bed – or why configuration matters”, Abstract and presentation at

EPSM 2007

• “An Area Biomedical Engineering Staffing Model” Abstract and presentation at

EPSM 2007

• “Telemetry Troubleshooting” presentation at SMBE 2008

• “Medical Systems Safety” presentation at SMBE 2008

• “Inter-operative MRI; Testing Procedures” Poster at EPSM 2008

• “Risk Management of Medical Devices – An empirical approach” Abstract and

presentation at ABEC 2009

• “Risk Management of Medical Devices to AS4360” Abstract and presentation at

ABEC 2009

• “Area Biomedical Model – Update” Abstract and presentation at ABEC 2009

• “Generic Biomed Dept Staffing Model” Abstract and presentation at ABEC 2009

• “The Future of Bush Mechanics and Tissue Farmers” Abstract and presentation at

ABEC 2010

• “Contractor Induction and Management” Abstract and presentation at ABEC 2010

• “The Language of Risk and Medical Equipment” Abstract and presentation at

ABEC 2010

• “Repair Process Variation Assessment Method” Abstract and presentation at ABEC

2010

• “A universal medical device interface” Abstract at ABEC 2011

• “Who’s afraid of Microshock” presentation at SMBE 2011

• “There’s an App for that, right?” presentation at SMBE 2012

• “Medical Mains Lead Safety Program” presentation at SMBE 2012

• “Using ITIL in Clinical Engineering - Modernising Service Delivery” abstracts ABEC

2013 (submitted for presentation)

• Biomedical Pocketbook 1st Edition 2009

• Biomedical Pocketbook 2nd Edition 2010

• Biomedical Pocketbook 3rd Edition 2011

• Biomedical Pocketbook 4th Edition, 2012

• Medical Electrical Equipment Trolley – Construction Guide (2010)

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• Email – Do’s and Don’ts Guide (2010)

• BEIMS for Biomed, Codes and Processes – multiple revisions (2009 – 2012)

• BMEG Guidance Documents GD-000, GD-001, GD-004, GD-005 (2009, 2010,

2011, 2012)

• User and Service Guide – RPAH CIS Cart (2011)

• User and Service Guide – F&P CIS Cart (2011)

Other Courses

Attended a wide variety of specialist technical training courses in medical technology and

computing and business - more than 50 in total. Including:

Customer Service Excellence (Philips 2005)

Cert IV in Project Management (ongoing 2013)

ITIL Foundations (May 2013)

In recent years having presented more courses than attended, particularly on Medical

Technology and Work Processes.

Professional Memberships

Engineers Australia – Chartered Member (Biomedical College) since 1996

Engineers Australia – Biomedical College Board 2009 - 2011

Society of Medical and Biological Engineering NSW – Member since 2007

Biomedical Engineers (Management) Group NSW – Founding member and Chairman

2009/2010 and 2012

American College of Clinical Engineering (pending application acceptance) since 2013

AAMI, affiliate through website since 2008

Hobbies & Interests

I

Keen reader of general science, early Australian history (particularly life of Capt Matthew

Flinders and other early mariners). Local and international travel, actively seeking out new

experiences and language abilities when away from home. Sailing and Motorcycling, when

time permits.

Referees

Referees are available on request

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