Zen and The Art of Medical Equipment Maintenance | HTM Insider with Thomas Flaherty

Aug 20, 2024

Mon, Aug 19, 2024 10:59AM • 32:05

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
biomed, electrical safety, day, philosophy, zen, organization, linchpin, talking, manager, team, equipment, boston city hospital, htm, busier, tom, today, changed, technicians, tools, listen

SPEAKERS
Chyrill Sandrini, Thomas Flaherty

Chyrill Sandrini 00:14
Welcome back to HTM Insider, so glad you’re joining us again. My name is Chyrill. I’m with MultiMedical Systems and your host, and today we have on Thomas Flaherty of Sutter Health. I’m sure you all know him. He’s not a stranger to the industry. He’s been around quite a long time and has so much experience, and so we’re just so I guess, pleased and excited and happy to have him on as a guest today. Thomas, with that said, why don’t you introduce yourself to our listeners and our audience of htm? Insider,

Thomas Flaherty 00:51
Well, again, you know, my name is Tom Flaherty, and I have recently just retired from Sutter Health. So actually, Tuesday, yeah, Tuesday, last Friday was my last, my last day working for Sutter Health. I did work for them as a regional service manager for 11 years. I’m originally from the Boston area, born and raised, and spent the first 50 years or so my life there, and I’ve been in the field of HTM for about 43, 44 years, and I’ve started, I started out from the ground floor as an electrical safety technician, and I worked my way up to I was corporate director for Charis Christie healthcare, which later became Steward Health Care. And then an opportunity came out here to come out to California 11 years ago, and I came out and just enjoyed it. And I love living in California these days.

Chyrill Sandrini 02:05
Awesome. That’s a great story. So over so many years of being in the field, you know, we discussed before your philosophies on HTM, can you go back to that electrical field service engineer days, and what was your philosophy back then?

Thomas Flaherty 02:27
Well, back then it was, you know, to get a job. The field was basically new back then. I don’t know if everybody knows this, but the biomedical field was created by Ralph Nader back in the late 60s. So it’s a relatively new field, and he testified in front of Congress that microshock was killing 1000s of hospital patients a year, and so a big part of biomed back then was electrical safety, and we had to do it. It’s a lot different today. The equipment is a lot different. Also the the a lot of the equipment was wasn’t really manufactured. A lot of it was created in labs and things like that. So there was a level of, I guess you could call a danger to it. And so I was hired to ensure that that equipment was safe and that it wouldn’t go ahead and introduce those electrical safety hazards into our patients. And that was back at Boston City Hospital.

Chyrill Sandrini 03:39
If something broke, did you go fix it? Or was that something handled by someone else?

Thomas Flaherty 03:42
Yeah, there was, you know, I was, I had gone to a technical program, and it was actually for marine electronics. There wasn’t a lot of biomed programs back in and this was 1980 so I went through a program, and I was actually working, I was going to school, and I was working nights at Boston City Hospital, and this opportunity came up, and I had previously, previously taken this electronics course, so I applied for it, and surprised I got it, and it was, like I said, entry level. I didn’t know anything about biomed, and they basically showed me the electrical safety analyzer, which was very primitive back then, and we had to do, believe it or not, quarterly electrical safety checks on every device in the hospital, really. Quarterly, huh? Yes, this was before the advent of computers. There were no computers, so we had to everything was paper driven. I actually had my own little diabold and was able to, you know, maintain the medical records that way, but I had to basically test that’s all I did all day long, was electrical safety on. All the equipment in the hospital. And, you know, that’s totally evolved into preventive maintenance as I learned the equipment. And

Chyrill Sandrini 05:05
Then was that still tracked by a sticker?

Thomas Flaherty 05:08
Yeah, absolutely. We put stickers on there. And it was part of I was originally there was about eight technicians at Boston City Hospital, and they, they did a lot of repairs and a lot of the maintenance on all the equipment, but I can tell you that a lot of it was repaired and maintained, especially the the imaging equipment back then by the manufacturers at that point. So we evolved the program while I was there and started training and grew into pretty good biomedical, electronic technicians.

Chyrill Sandrini 05:46
When did you decide it was a career field? When did you change your mindset from getting a job to this is a great career, and I want to stay in it, and I want to make the most of it? When was that shift?

Thomas Flaherty 06:01
Well, I went back to school. You know, I am a product of continuing education. I had been going to school, as I said, for a different I was actually going for physical education, and I switched my major to electronics. And at that point, you know, I think I was pretty well committed after I received my Associate’s degree. Also the opportunities to go ahead and grow within the team at that time was available before I knew it, I was in the or and I was working on anesthesia equipment within a year, so I saw the the opportunities, and I was pretty well committed at that point. So it changed pretty quickly.

Chyrill Sandrini 06:54
Is that where you found your why and where you wanted to be, and then how did you start to form that philosophy? I know you. You are a guy that’s based on philosophies, and you live by him. When did that start to evolve?

Thomas Flaherty 07:09
Well, we can, I mean, I was pretty dedicated to being a biomedical engineer, and then I became a clinical engineer through, again, continuing education. I went to a lot of courses, and at that point I was a break fix guy. And then the opportunity came up to step up into a lead role and, and that’s, I think, when my philosophy started to really change it. It really had to so and then one of my first jobs as a manager, I was given a book that changed my life, not only, you know, career, but But you know, personally and that, that was Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s a book by Robert persig, and was written in the 70s, and I’m not exactly sure what year I was given the book, but I read that, and that really transformed me and changed my philosophy, and that’s called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, so I transitioned that to the Zen and The Art of Medical Equipment Maintenance, and I’ve used that philosophy for the last 2025, years, and it served me well, and it’s, I think It’s made me a better, better teacher, better leader, better person, to be honest.

Chyrill Sandrini 08:47
So tell us what what is it? What is the premise of the philosophy?

Thomas Flaherty 08:52
Well, I think everybody knows what Zen is, but the you know, everything is always changing. That’s, that’s the first concept. So, you know, getting rid of that resistance to change is a big thing. And the, I think the premise of the book is a great one, and it’s trying to identify what quality is and providing quality in everyday life and everything you do, trying to trying to define what that is, and as a service provider, trying to provide that quality to your your customers, to the patients, And even in your home life, to provide that quality time effort to you know the people you love.

Chyrill Sandrini 09:47
And that’s so true. Yeah, so true. I know you’ve mentored a lot of biomeds over the years. How are you able to translate your philosophy? And share it with them to help secure their success in the field?

Thomas Flaherty 10:06
Well, I think one of the things is to try to be positive. You know, all the time be positive. There’s, you know, work is hard and and, like I said, it’s always changing. And there’s, there’s so much going on all the time. And today it’s, it’s, it’s getting busier and busier and busier. It seems do less with more. But that’s always been the mantra, as far as I’ve been in this business, it seems, but trying to, you know, walk the talk is an important aspect of it, giving you time and really listening, letting them be a part of the process and the decision making. I’ll be honest, I’m not, you know, I’m not the smartest guy in the room. But what I always try to do is listen and learn. I told you I was part of continuing education. That hasn’t stopped till today, whether I’m not talking about specific courses at a college or anything, but listen and learn and hopefully contribute, you know, some of the pearls or words of wisdom, and especially someone that’s been around as long as me, the experience so and hopefully, I think I’ve done a pretty good job. And I think if you go back to all my the people that I’ve worked with that they’ll, they’ll say that I’m, I’m present, another Zen philosophy, be present when I’m with them, and when I’m talking with them, and when we’re trying to get whatever the demands of the day are to Get it done.

Chyrill Sandrini 11:59
Do you feel like there’s more demands today than there ever has been, and is that harder to implement that philosophy? Because I see it from an outside perspective, how the changes are occurring, especially with all the cybersecurity and the regulations that are coming down. Is it harder to, you know, stay present compared to 10, 20 years ago, and to still effectively care for patient safety and patient outcomes?

Thomas Flaherty 12:34
Yeah, and there’s so much noise and everything’s instantaneous. I remember when I first got a beeper, that was a huge thing. You know, the beeper go off and, wow, you can get in touch with anybody immediately. But you know, now it’s, it’s not even that you get. And I’m sure this goes for you, but it definitely went for me. I get hundreds of emails a day, whether it be a service request or, you know, a request from somebody for something, it’s constant and it’s never ending. And, you know, we just etc, we adopted a new, a new CMMS system that sends you texts and emails when someone puts in a service request, you know, so it’s instantaneous into your expectation is that you respond instantaneous. You know, people sitting there, tapping there, waiting for your answer on the on their phone or on their text, definitely more demanding. And it’s, this has always been a highly regulated field, and even more so, so with the cyber security, add another layer. Now with artificial intelligence, there’s another layer to be concerned with. I know I saw my first email come out from Sutter, and they might have sent them before, but I might have not received it, but it was on, you know, the etiquette of artificial intelligence now, and when you’re using those, those new tools to go ahead and decipher stuff, you know, it is helpful, but, but again, it’s also adds another layer. And yeah, it’s just it’s more noise and more demands. And yeah, it’s to answer your question, yes, it’s much more demanding than it used to be. Absolutely, yeah, you know, there are more tools. Yeah, yeah,

Chyrill Sandrini 14:41
Oh, absolutely. And, and just the just the amount of tools and what’s available to utilize is just somewhat overwhelming at times, and trying to make the right decision, I really want to go back to the Zen and now, because talking about it right now with you Tom my one of my goals is to find more work life balance and that instantaneous connection text messages to cell phones that I carry the computer working in different time zones, and you need to be available, you know, for myself, you know, across the nation, instantaneously. So I’m going to pick up that book, because I’ve got to find more of that right, and to be centered and be present in each aspect of my life, personally. So really connecting with me today. Are you able to feel like now that you’re retired, is taking some of the weight off, or do you still feel connected. And do you feel that, you know, I gotta be busy, I gotta be doing something’s going on, or are you able to disconnect a little bit more now?

Thomas Flaherty 15:51
Well, it’s still, it’s so new to me, I think I’m probably gonna need some more decompression. But, you know, I’ve, I actually retired two years ago, so and I’ve been working since as a contractor for Sutter. So I kept I’m keeping busy in the field, and the reason I said Friday was my last day is because I’m going on an extended vacation. I’m going back to Boston. But the only advice I would have for anybody. And I always tell everybody this, you got to make time for yourself when you when you are off, when you take a vacation, you have to turn the phones off. You have to let the people that you answer to know that, hey, I’m off, I’m off, I’m not going to be available. And I always made made time in the day for myself. I we mentioned Zen, and I don’t want everybody sat rolling their eyes and stuff, but, but Zen is based on meditation, and I think it’s an important health need of everybody is to be able, whether it be 15 minutes a day, to put aside for yourself, to try to clear your mind of all the noise we’ve been talking about. And I know it’s hot enough, you’ll especially a lot of people. And as a manager, I was always on call and but you know, I think part of it and is, is to make suggestions to your leaders. And we did. We we changed it so that we weren’t always on call. We took turns being on call so that we could shut our phone off, and when we weren’t on call, we were off and to spend time with your family, which is probably the most important thing you’ll ever do in your life. So you need to be present, and you need you need to really spend time and be around the ones who care for you and who you care for.

Chyrill Sandrini 17:56
How would you advise a manager or or leaders in an organization to have that conversation on how we need that work life balance. I know it’s it’s across the nation, we’re short handed in the field. There’s expectations, and I know how dedicated our B meds are to providing patient care and patient safety. How would you start that conversation? Or how would you advise someone to start that conversation with leadership?

Thomas Flaherty 18:29
Well, one of my ways that I got ready to go to work every week or every day was figure out what, what were the things I didn’t want to do, the hard things, and I would say, I have to do them first. So that’s the first, is committing yourself to going to have that kind of conversation. And I think for the most part, our leaders, they suffer from the same same demands as we all do, too. And you might make suggestion that they need to include themselves when we have this and how, how can we go ahead and take that load off of them so that they can have that quality time because they have to get away. They you know, it might not seem like it, especially to the biomes, but the higher you go up, the more weight you carry, and the more emails you get, the more noise there is. So it’s, it’s really important that that, you know, our leaders have their time off, their quality time, so they can go ahead and and, and have this, the, the, the ambition, or, you know, the attitude that they need to go ahead and get us through these tough times and, and also to understand what, what all their managers and also the biomeds need to go ahead and provide the highest quality of service that they can they can possibly so. You know, the one of the most important things, and it’s what I refer to as you know, being a linchpin for your organization, and that’s something that I try to provide and also mentor some of my the people that that I work with, that were under me, is to understand how important having linchpins in the organization are and and basically to define a linchpin. And everybody should know what a linchpin is. It’s just it holds the team together. It holds holds the organization together. Every organization has linchpins and and they’re basically indispensable to their organizations. They’re indispensable to their teams. And you probably, I’m thinking of a couple people you work with, the that are like that, and it the more linchpins you can create, the better and stronger and and just a high quality, your your team, your your organization can be.

Chyrill Sandrini 21:30
I agree. You know, if you are a biomed or you’re one of those linchpins, and you find that you’re struggling with that work life balance you’re struggling you know to shut your phones off. How would you advise that person to go and talk to someone like yourself? And instead of getting burnout or leaving an organization, what are some steps that they can use, or some tools that you can suggest to have that conversation?

Thomas Flaherty 22:06
That’s a great question, but, you know, I think it’s gonna be different for for every individual. You know, it’s hard, it’s it’s especially if you’re a linchpin, but it’s hard these days, for, you know, technician is out for any period of time. The concern is, well, who’s going to back him up? Especially if he is a linchpin, or if he’s an important you know, we can talk about imaging, you know, if you’re a CT, guy goes out and, you know, he’s out for a week or two weeks, or even longer, that puts the organization, you know, in a tough position. You can’t rely on manufacturers like you used to. They’re having a harder time than the in house organizations it seems to go ahead and maintain qualified people. But the only thing I can say is, as a manager, it’s your job to go and understand how to go ahead and create a team and have backup plans, or, you know, other people that you can rely on to go ahead and fill that void. First of all, everybody, organization, I know, is, is trying to cross-train as much as possible, trying to dissolve the lines between the biomed and the imaging engineer, and one of the ways of that is to go ahead and provide the training that’s needed to help those, those biomeds, those good biomeds. And hopefully you can keep all your good you know all good biomeds, but to go ahead and be able to fill in short term for those people that need to go ahead and get time off. I know I haven’t answered your question fully, but it’s not how I would go ahead and mentor or communicate with us and provide them tools with that is trying to be that type of manager that first of all, creates that type of team, creates that type of plan where we do have contingencies in place for things like that. But then also to hammer home the importance of taking time off and regenerating, revitalizing. And you know, when you when they’re able to do that, they come back and they’re better employees. And so I guess that’s the best you can do at this point.

Chyrill Sandrini 24:57
Yeah, I think that’s important. And creating that team. Is very important. And having that communication. I had interviewed Sean Malloy A while back, and he talked about building, you know, sustainable biomeds in your shop. And I think that goes down to just communicating and and, you know, meeting with them and getting to know them. Wouldn’t you agree?

Thomas Flaherty 25:21
Oh, absolutely, yeah, yeah. You should be meeting with all your team regularly. You should be talking to them daily, daily. You know, if you can, obviously, that’s not possible. But, and I know there’s tools in place to go ahead, where you have one on ones and all that, but it’s more than just having a one on one and going over the numbers. It’s really getting to know your employees. And, you know, in the old days, “the old days,” we used to go out to lunch, law, you can’t, it’s, there’s all kinds of rules. And then, you know, we used to play golf, and, you know, but you could still do that. I, you know, it’s kind of funny. I just was trying to do that, do some team building. I started going golfing once a week with with some of the technicians. And it worked. It worked tremendously. We really developed a pretty good friendship. And I think that’s so important for your team, is that they support each other. And, you know, because that’s just another I hate to say it, but it’s a tool in your toolbox, if you can rely on your teammates and some of the other biomeds around you in your organization to go ahead and step in and back you up. Because, you know, we all need time off, but we also, we all make mistakes. You learn from your mistakes, but you need someone to have you back when that happens, and to step in, and, you know, work as a team. So,

Chyrill Sandrini 26:58
yeah, I think that’s magical to get to know your staff and to get to know them individually, because then you you’re more in tune, and you can feel them when they’re having the off days or tough times, and they’re more comfortable to come to you and discuss, you know, maybe what’s going on, to get some guidance personally and professionally. I think that’s a great way to build a team, I agree with you wholeheartedly, and to build relationships around something outside work, and so that may include some laughter and some fun, I think is always a plus as well.

Thomas Flaherty 27:36
I would tell you the other thing that I’ve learned, especially since I did retire, and is you need, you know, sometimes you forget, as a manager, the day to day stresses of the biomed. So I think it should almost be a requirement that managers don’t pack their tool bag that they respond to some calls with their team. I know I always tried to, you know, I learned how to do MRI. You know, I was never an imaging engineer, but I changed CT tubes with my with my engineers. I did PMs on MRs. You know, even if it was, if it was after hours, whatever, and it took four hours, you know, I didn’t do it all the time. I did it once a while just to, just to give them the support that they needed, to see what they’re going through and and understand. The other thing is, the equipment is changed. Is always changing, and so to stay in tune with what the equipment is, you know, I always maintain my CBET certification, just in case, but I think it’s a good practice to still be able to turn and understand what you technicians are going through.

Chyrill Sandrini 29:06
That’s big, to lead by example, and I know it’s hard with so much being thrown at our HTM managers, you know, coming from all sides, but I really admire you for that staying in tune and staying in touch, and I know that I’ve known a lot of your biomeds and managers that have worked underneath you, and you were so well respected for that. Tom so thank you for all you’ve given to the HTM industry. So now we’re coming to the portion that we’re closing out our podcast, we’re just going to leave our listeners, which we call the WoW word of wisdom, or words of wisdom from the infamous Tom Flaherty. We want to hear what you can leave those listening to this podcast today, just to hold on to and. Be maybe write it on their chalkboard at work or or scribble it down on their notepad or on their phone, because I know that you have something special for us. So go ahead. Tom

Thomas Flaherty 30:14
Okay, I’m just going to keep it simple. Be kind. Be kind to your fellow employees. Be kind to your customers, be kind to the patients, be kind to the people you love. And finally, be kind to yourself.

Chyrill Sandrini 30:36
I love that Tom, we kind of forget that sometime in this industry is to be kind to ourselves.

Thomas Flaherty 30:42
Yeah, we all make mistakes. We’re all going to continue to make mistakes. You know, things happen and gets, you know, the seats all the way up to the COO or something. And you know, it’s, it can be very stressful or whatever, but you don’t want to be up at three o’clock in the morning reliving the moment over and over again. You got to you got to forgive yourself, and you’ve got to just do better the next day. That’s all

Chyrill Sandrini 31:19
That’s awesome. Tom, thank you so much for coming on today.

Thomas Flaherty 31:25
Sure, my pleasure really, Chyrill, thank you.

Chyrill Sandrini 31:29
thank you. Thank you Well listeners. Thanks for tuning in today. And you know, if you listen through Tech Nation, this is worth one CE credit. Make sure you jump on there and listen. And you need those CE credits, you can get them there. We’re on any place that you listen to your favorite podcasts, including YouTube, at HTM Insider TV, so join us at our next episode, and thank you for tuning in.