History 2004 Case for national unification of SMBEs

The Case for National Unification of the SMBEs in Australia

Current Situation
SMBEs are well established in WA, SA, Vic, NSW and Queensland. There is fledgling activity in NT also. Collectively their membership constitutes easily the largest group of BME practitioners and other medical technology orientated individuals within Australia, totaling in the order of 300-400 members. Currently there is no formal mechanism of co-ordination of activities, policies or strategies between these groups. This does occur, at times, by way of the informal networks that exist across the country. Theoretically the Australian Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (AFMBE) provides a forum that brings them together however this is not the intended purpose of this federation, it is not structured to act as a conduit for SMBE issues.

The “Problems”
There is no doubt that these state based activities could continue, without formal links, very much as they do currently. However this could be considered to not be making best use of opportunities and significant potential that may arise should they act in a combined and co-hesive manner. At the present time:
Initiatives taken by individual states do not readily transfer to adoption by other states e.g. the state-by-state entering into MOU’s with Engineers Australia or the ability to pick up on workshop ideas and transfer them to other states.
Affiliation with like bodies overseas cannot readily be achieved. The best example of this is the emerging national body* within the USA that is quite similar in many ways to the SMBE, both organisations may mutually benefit by establishing links
Being only a “bit player” in national discussions such as the determination of conference venues and associated issues. Currently, the relevant state SMBE is simply invited to participate, often in a minor role, after the two colleges make the big decisions. We do not really have a place at the table in this regard.
Groups wanting to establish contact with the SMBE and it’s membership needing to do so in a disjointed and often problematic manner needing to chase up individually the current contact details for each state.
The ability to engage sponsors at a national level is not possible, there is opportunity to achieve this via advertising to such a large group of members. It is a market that companies cannot reach easily in any other manner.

The Opportunities
There is the chance to address all of the above issues fairly readily with a combined SMBE that featured a national system of governance. The idea would not be to take away financial or operational control of any of the State based SMBEs. They would continue to collect their own subscriptions, organise their own events in what could be thought of a federal type system. The National body would simply harness the collective voice and influence of what would become the largest and most broadly representative BME group in the country. The strength that would be achieved by way of this unity could be used to advantage in all of the above and possibly other situations.

A Plan
This “amalgamation” could be achieved by the establishment of an SMBE national executive. This could comprise the President of each existing state society from amongst whom a chairperson could be nominated. It should not really be necessary to have other appointed officers at this level; the secretariat/treasury function could be rotated between states. Discussions and affairs could largely be conducted by teleconference, with consideration perhaps being given to one face to face meeting per annum, possibly co-inciding with a national conference or event. These communications channels would need to be funded, this could be by way of a per capita contribution by each state to a national executive fund. Assuming teleconferences would be the initial means of communication something of the order of $1 per member per annum should adequately fund this activity.

The Role of the AFMBE
This organisation, having been in existence for some 30 plus years, is purely and simply intended as a vehicle to establish affiliation with the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering. (IFMBE). Affiliated in this means, via the AFMBE, are also the College of Biomedical Engineers within Engineers Australia and the engineering members of the Australian College and physical Sciences and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM). This is achieved with a degree of success, but the Federation is not set up to act as a decision making group for just a limited number of its affiliates (i.e. SMBE’s only). It also really just adds another layer and another entity between the international organisation and the local bodies seeking the international links. The BME community would be far better served by establishing these links directly i.e. a national SMBE directly affiliated with the IFMBE. This would leave both of the colleges without this affiliation however this is possibly not a major issue. The ASPSEM has other international links that arguably satisfy it’s requirements. The CBME within EA could establish its own links as we have seen a change of stance within the IFMBE lately with the allowing of two bodies within a single country to affiliate separately. This has not been accepted up until now, a policy that ultimately saw the formation of the AFMBE so many years ago. This strategy would see the AFMBE dissolving after having run its course and becoming an impediment rather than a facilitator of effective links.

The Way Ahead
This concept requires discussion within each state SMBE at the committee level to reach an consensus on the relative merit or otherwise of this strategy. Should it generally be considered as a worthwhile option to be explored, an initial teleconference could be set up to work through any matters or questions that arise from each states discussions.

Adrian Richards
23/3/04
President AFMBE
Imm. Past Pres SMBE(SA) Inc.

* See "Get Organised" by Mary Coker CBET, in 24x7 Magazine November 2003