At the EPSM/ABEC 2005 conference in Adelaide a meeting was convened to discuss how international affiliation for Australian biomedical practitioners may best be achieved. Currently the individual state SMBE's, the College of BME within Engineers Australia (CBME) and the Engineering members within the ACPSEM have international affiliation through the Australian Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (AFMBE). There may be a better way. An initial discussion document, specifically discussing the issue from an SMBE perspective was circulated in early 2004 to promote discussion. The 2005 discussion was convened to particularly engage all AFMBE affiliates in a broader discussion.
At the meeting there was healthy debate about the pro's and cons of the options available. One principal factor was the acknowledgment that the International body with whom we affiliate, the IFMBE, now allows multiple affiliations from within a single country. This was not the case until recently, and was the reason the AFMBE was created merely as an umbrella affiliation body many years ago.
There may be benefits in the SMBE's forming their own overarching structure to tie together what is now a range of disparate groups, and that they would have far greater potential if they presented with a common voice.
The ACPSEM have felt for some time that becasue the AFMBE only provides affiliation for their Australian members, their engineering members in New Zealand have been compromised. They would welcome a model that recognised them as a trans-national organization, something that the IFMBE have also done with other organisations in the recent past.
A possible outcome emerged that could comprise
- The SMBE's establishing a national model and affiliating with the IFMBE
- The Eng Aust CBME seeking similar affiliation
- Trans-national IFMBE recognition being sought for the ACPSEM so that their broader geographic base was adequately catered for.
The Way Ahead
It was agreed to pursue this overall plan with the key issue being the bringing together of the SMBEs from each state. I agreed, as the current AFMBE president, to play a co-ordinating role in this. I therefore propose that this be put on the agenda for the committees of each SMBE for earnest discussion and resolution at their earliest possible opportunity. I would appreciate if each group would feed back to me the results of those discussions, highlighting any issues that they may have identified that we may need to work through. Keep in mind that during the discussions in Adelaide , at which all groups were represented, there emerged a consensus to move in this direction, what we are looking for from this point on is constructive input so that discussions can move forward. I will collate these comments, circulate them for consideration and then convene a teleconference involving office bearers from each state to facilitate further discussion.
One of the matters that we will need to consider is how the national structure may appear. I would welcome comments on this but could easily be something along the lines of a rotating Chair/Secretariat between states, maybe following the EPSM/ABEC conference for example.
During this process I would plan to keep the chairs of both Colleges updated with progress so that they remain engaged in the process, despite much of the deliberation needing to be amongst the SMBEs in the first instance.
IFMBE Discussions
Concurrent with this Richard Kirsner, who has very close formal and informal links with the IFMBE has undertaken to commence discussions with the relevant people within that organisation to “test the waters” in respect to the plan that is emerging. We can be optimistic of the outcomes based upon the fact that what we are proposing is no longer out of the ordinary and that it is being done in a cohesive and structured manner rather than in a divisive or competitive manner like some other examples that they have encountered.
Please feel free to contact me at any time with any comments or suggestions that we can take into consideration during this very important process. It really is a sign that the BME scene here within Australia is reaching another level of maturity that will see all of the bodies involved serve their members well.
Adrian Richards
President AFMBE
Imm.Past President SMBE (SA)
Dep. Chair CBME, Engineers Australia
Mar 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment