The 2018 Annual NCBA Conference will be held at The Sugar Lake Lodge in Cohasset, MN on September 12 - 14.

HealthCare Business News spoke to Shane Kearney to find out what attendees should expect this year.

HCB News: Can you tell us a little bit about the NCBA's origins and its history?
Shane Kearney: I reached out to some of the first officers and members to get their story on this, since I've only been in the organization about six years. From what I've gathered, the first conference was a lot of work, using service manuals to get contact information and cold call vendors for participation. Starting something from scratch was difficult, requiring a lot of leg work to just find what was out there, and even more of that drive to bring it together. Even though the conference was a four hour drive from the Twin Cities they had a great turnout from both members and vendors, and in the end all the hard work paid off and launched something we are all very proud of today.

HCB News: How did you originally get involved with the organization?
SK: I started working in biomed at Fairview as support staff for technicians, managers, and a director in October of 2010, that was my first position in the healthcare field. One of the other biomed staff at the time talked me into attending a couple NCBA quarterly meetings pretty soon after I started. Shortly after that I became an official member. I attended my first annual conference in 2012 and have stayed regularly involved since. About three and a half years ago, the vice president at the time and I recognized an opportunity with the organization's webmaster role. We approached the other officers and discussed how my strengths could help the organization. I was voted in at next meeting.

HCB News: What kind of issues do you expect will dominate conversations at this year's meeting?
SK: Alternative Equipment Management (AEM) plans have been a big topic of discussion lately, and rightly so. While there are guidelines in place, there are many approaches to having an effective, yet manageable, program. The NCBA meetings and annual conference are the perfect platform to learn and develop AEM best practices for organizations.

I have also seen a trend in local hospitals starting to rely on the clinical engineering departments for more than just repairs and preventative maintenance. Lifecycle management and planning is taking center stage in a lot of discussions with leadership to help identify ways to make the hospital's budget go further. Because of the work that clinical engineering has been doing for years to maintain a robust inventory we are able to help drive discussions around what really needs to be replaced to help keep clinical operations running smoothly, what can be deferred for future replacement, and even what advancing medical technologies are around the corner to watch out for. As an organization, we need to help facilitate conversations around this so that our members are prepared to help make these decisions.

HCB News: Are there certain initiatives or goals you will be announcing at the conference?
SK: We recently removed the cost of membership to our organization to help draw more members. This year we hope to take that a step further and get those members more involved. We've recently focused on creating a board of directors, in addition to the officer group, as a way to give more professionals an extra avenue for dialogue, on a scale that goes beyond their employers' walls. It also helps the NCBA continue to grow and develop as an organization by leveraging a wider range of skills to help accomplish our goals.

HCB News: For first time attendees, what advice would you offer to make sure they make the most of their time?
SK: Be involved. It's easy to sign up and be called a member, we've removed as many barriers to that as we could. While just showing up can certainly be beneficial, members will get more value out of the organization by asking questions and participating in discussions. There is so much knowledge and experience in our organization's membership, and we should do everything we can to learn from it, as well as contribute to it. And the best way to do that is just to get involved.

To build of off 'being involved' - get to know the people. Techs, managers, directors, vendors, and more attend our meetings. Clinical engineering touches so many aspects of healthcare operations, and we are lucky to see many of them represented in the organization. Networking, talking, and sharing with others gives you a great perspective on where you stand in your field, where your organization stands in the market, and even where the market stands as a whole. The amount of valuable information that members can bring back to their organizations from networking alone is incredible.

In addition to networking, but deserving it's own mention, is collaborating. It's great to see when a tech or manager at one facility is having trouble addressing a certain issue, and someone from another hospital or group can help them find a solution based on past experiences. The sense of competition does not exist between organizations with our group, because we all realize that at the end of the day it is the patient and their health and safety that truly matter.

HCB News: Can you tell us anything about your keynote speakers and what subjects they will address?
SK: We have been fortunate to have a representative from The Joint Commission give a keynote address for many years now. While the specific topics shift from conference to conference, and I'm excited to see what this year's keynote has in store, I sense that the common theme among them is that - we understand that we're doing good, but how do we do great? What's the next step in becoming a true foundation for the well-being of our patients while maintaining the success of our individual employers? How do we help our organizations move to a culture of high reliability and safety?

HCb News: What else can you tell us about this year's program? Are there any particular highlights you're looking forward to?
SK: Regulatory readiness is always on everyone's mind, and it should be. Due diligence in assuring that medical equipment is safe for patient use, and can meet these requirements, is the cornerstone of everything that clinical engineering groups do. Because of this, it is a very common theme in the planning for both our annual conference and quarterly meetings.

With the conference is still a few months away, our education schedule is still being developed. Since I've been involved, there have been different 'tracks' to our conference schedules. We have a set of lessons geared towards techs with classes on troubleshooting specific models or modalities. There are speakers that focus on tools for management development, focusing on things like interviewing and policies. We also offer a set of roundtable discussions to hear from our fellow members on topics like AEMs and asset management best practice discussions.

The vendor show is a highlight each year. We have some incredible vendors that put a lot of effort into showcasing excellent services, tools, parts, equipment, and more. Without them, our annual conference wouldn't be anywhere near the success it is today. I don't know any clinical engineering departments that don't have a close relationship with at least some vendors, and I am happy to see them come together at a venue like the conference to further that relationship.

At the end, we always look forward to improving what's next. We offer up surveys to both members and vendors after each conference to find out what worked and what didn't. We take that feedback into consideration for the planning of our following conferences. Because the field is always changing, we need to keep adapting to help support our members be the best they can be – our success depends on their success, and we need to continue to support them in every way we can.