The Clinical Equipment Management Department (CEM) at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (WFBMC), like most biomedical departments, was a direct descendent or outgrowth of the hospital's engineering department.
Throughout the decades of the 50s and 60s maintenance support of medical equipment was handled by a select group of hospital electricians with specialized training and skills. Not until the early 1970's would the specialized talents of this group be recognized and granted independent status.
Adopting the name clinical engineering, the newly formed CE support service group would undergo a number of transitional changes as it developed its own identity, and gained the trust and support of the departments they supported.
Although clinical engineering now had its own name and assigned shop area, it still remained a support arm of the engineering department. This reporting relationship would remain intact until 1992, at which time it would transfer to the facility services department.
Beginning in 2011 clinical equipment management resides under the division within resource management. Presently the CEM department continues to grow, meeting internal customer needs with exceptional quality.
In addition to the main department, there are two satellite shops. One is located in the operating suite and the other adjacent to the respiratory care department. Technicians assigned to both areas have total responsibility for a vast array of specialty equipment such as gas anesthesia machines, heart-lung bypass equipment, lasers, patient ventilators and pulmonary function therapy systems.
The department is subdivided into three teams and it is the responsibility of these teams to provide for the equipment support service needs of all patient care departments within the Medical Center. The CEM department expanded its scope of services to include WFBMC clinics affiliated with the Medical Center.
Quality of Service Standards
Pursue excellence in the quality of services provided.
- Meet the challenge and exceed the expectation of the customer.
- Know your customers as you would have them know you.
- Be known as “the point of contact” by those served.
- Listen to the customer.
- Keep the customer informed.
- Provide timely response to service requests.
- Ensure rapid equipment turnaround time.
- Help people develop through training.
- Display a professional and caring attitude to patients, family members and staff.