Biomedical equipment technicians or BMETs represent an expanding class of people who are technically trained whose biggest responsibility is the maintenance and repair of medical imaging equipment like a a CT scanner, ultrasound, x-ray MRI, and so on. The career road for BMETs appears to be turning as rapidly as equipment for medical imaging is turning.

First and foremost, the demand for BMETs is growing. This growth is because of the growth in new medical imaging equipment and technologies that have to have BMET knowledge and by the necessity for revenue by institutions that own medical imaging equipment. As institutions similar to hospitals recognize that downtime on a piece of equipment for medical imaging affects revenue generation, there is demand to add BMETs to hospitals to assure that every piece of equipment for medical imaging is maintained in good condition. So that costly service contracts are used as little as possible. The U.S. Department of Labor and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Imaging (AAMI) guess that the number of BMET jobs in the US will come up 24 percent to 31 percent throughout the year 2010.

Historically, BMETs were trained on the job. However, as equipment for medical imaging technology has increased, so has the need for consistent, quality training. Today, many BMETs have earned an associates degree in equipment of medical imaging technology, electronics or an engineering-related field. A recent study by the AAMI discovered that 62 percent of all BMETs journeyed on to become freely certified by the International Commission on Accreditation. ICC Certification for BMETs is a formal recognition by the International Certification Commission for Clinical Engineering and Biomedical Technology (ICC) that some people have demonstrated excellence in theoretical as well as orderly intelligence of the principles of biomedical technology.

However, the BMET job continues to evolve and as it does, the educational requirements have started to expand as well. The BMET profession has started to walk the path of lots of different careers both in and out of the medical field where lots more education is needed to obtain a job and/or excel inside a career field. BMETs report that people who employ them are starting to make you have bachelors degrees for growth to a higher rank or in a few cases to become a BMET inside some institutions. While this requirement might constrain the job opportunities for few BMETs serving right now, the great news is that with strengthened educational requirements creates the opportunity for greater salaries. People have found out that beginning pays for BMETs range from $20,000-$30,000. However, higher positions can get salaries as good as $80,000. The future appears bright for career growth in this area.