YOUTUBE 101
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LEARNING ON YOUTUBE
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ouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world. This multimedia platform is rapidly evolving from its humble beginnings in the realm of entertainment to becoming a widespread educational tool.
The beauty of YouTube lies in its ease of access to information, the ability to learn and understand a variety of topics, the open communication with publishers, and the opportunity to utilize the content in realworld settings.
YouTube provides “Do It Yourself” videos and, when applied to the HTM community, that means keeping service in-house and eliminating the need to incur costly outsourced services. The abundance of information on YouTube cannot be underestimated. By typing in a few key words in a search bar, viewers can quickly learn from experts in their field. This is extraordinarily critical, as the Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) industry brings more medical device asset management in-house. As the breadth of equipment increases, it becomes unreasonable to ask for anyone to be an expert on every modality, manufacturer, model and vintage. But by using YouTube, any one person may be armed to solve a multitude of problems that may arise. This has become a great way for health care facilities to better understand a supplier’s domain expertise, and a way to instantly share applicable content with colleagues. A biomedical engineer who normally works in CT uses YouTube to brush up on ultraWWW.MEDICALDEALER.COM
sound skills to cover for a coworker. A sonographer learns quick tips on how to tell if an artifact in the image is due to a problem in a probe’s crystal. An HTM professional reviews industry topics to better understand and make informed decisions on potential suppliers. The wealth of knowledge is not only ready and waiting to be watched, but is presented in such a way that it is easily understood. No more thumbing through dry service manuals and black and white illustrations. Now, content can be learned through real-time footage, where problems are seen and heard. Instead of hearing a description of CW noise as “popping” viewers can hear the noise first hand. YouTube provides “Do It Yourself” videos and, when applied to the HTM community, that means keeping service in-house and eliminating the need to incur costly outsourced services. Keeping service in-house is also the quickest way to solve potential problems, as the engineers are already there, and can immediately begin to work on the equipment. The equipment is no longer down for days (or even weeks!) while waiting for the scheduled appointment. Jamie Noble, a clinical engineer at CHI consistently uses Summit Imaging’s YouTube channel and says, “The YouTube training videos are an excellent resource as I refer to the videos to refresh my knowledge prior to a service call. This boosts my confidence and enables me to repair an ultrasound machine in a quick and efficient manner as the videos contain the necessary details of a repair that are not always found in a service manual. I highly recommend watching Summit Imaging’s YouTube Tech Tip videos!” Another significant differentiation between YouTube and other methods of on-demand education (such as service manuals or papers), is the ability to open a dialogue with the publisher. If a viewer has a question on a video, it can be asked
directly on the video’s thread. Corrections can be suggested, new findings can be added, and other viewers can join in on the conversation. The video is now generating knowledge and brings the publisher and viewers together to improve understanding. This is extraordinarily powerful as it guides publishers to generate new content, which then becomes available to the entire community, providing a cycle of knowledge for all to access. In favor of health care facilities, the trend is ending that revolved around archaic supplier relationships, which kept information under wraps. The trend is now moving toward suppliers who have a wealth of knowledge available to support these health care facilities. By suppliers sharing their knowledge, they are demonstrating their domain expertise, competence with technology, and providing scalable solutions that retain quality of product and service. YouTube had beginnings in entertainment and has evolved into a search tool critical for the well-being of HTM systems. At the stroke of a keyboard, anyone can learn more about equipment service, maintenance, performance, and safety – ensuring that the absolute best service is provided at all times. As our industry evolves to service and support more equipment, we must look forward and leverage tools like YouTube to help accelerate the diagnosis and repair of medical devices and lower the total cost of ownership for health care facilities. BG View Summit Imaging's YouTube videos online at youtube.com/summitimaging 2018 BUYERS GUIDE
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