by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | May 16, 2016
From the May 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The Launch of AAMI University — our online learning platform — is another high point. We have always had strong face-to-face training programs and learning events, and AAMI University takes us into the future of delivering education and training to health care technology-oriented professionals with a much wider menu of options for when and how the education and training are delivered.
The staff also would point to their own sense of pride in AAMI becoming much more visible in the broader healthcare community. We’ve worked really hard in these last eight years to build relationships, to rebuild relationships, and to get out there in the world as the premier expert on health care technology issues. Standards are our “bread and butter” business, but standards by themselves don’t always draw a lot of public interest and attention.
The staff has worked hard to show the human interest side of our work, and to make a much stronger connection between our work and patient safety in the hearts and minds of the broader health care community beyond our loyal volunteers. It’s always hard to limit a list of highlights, but the last one I would flag is our strategy to expand our certification programs. The big news of the day is that this spring we applied for ANSI certification. Certification programs in general are growing, with programs in abundance for professionals to enhance their learning and portfolio. The proliferation of certificates and certifications makes it very important to employers to know that a particular certification actually means something — that it has real substance.
It’s kind of like someone going to a virtual college — how do you know it’s a robust education? One way is getting the program accredited. And we just applied for accreditation of our BMET certification program with ANSI. It’s a big step in our overall strategy for our certification programs.
Mary with her
daughter, Sarah (1990s)
HCB News: Do you have any plans for your retirement?
ML: My husband and I will retire at the same time — we’ve both worked full time, hard-driving, since we were 16. We love to travel, love to play, and we haven’t had enough time for it. We also want the flexibility to go back to school, garden and spend more time with family and friends. I love to write. I know I’ll need some outlet for writing and I have no idea what that will be. I’ve made a commitment to myself and my husband that I won’t commit to anything for the first year so we can enjoy living in the moment and life. Whatever I experience next, it will be the first time in my life when I have not felt some type of self-imposed pressure to have a plan. It’ll be a time where I’m just excited to live and have no plans and I’m hoping I can stay with that. If there is some other kind of plan that needs to bubble up, then it will come when the time is right.
