OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Test, adjust, or repair biomedical or electromedical equipment.
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
Fewer details
Salary
Median salary: $51,610 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $38,700 and $67,930.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
Fewer details
Salary growth for precision instrument and equipment repairers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Medical Equipment Repairers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of medical equipment repairers who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Hazardous Conditions (51%)
- Exposed to Contaminants (45%)
- Time Pressure (44%)
- Responsible for Others' Health (38%)
- Consequence of Error (31%)
Fewer details
Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Medical Equipment Repairers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Medical equipment repairers must effectively communicate technical information by telephone, in writing, and in person when speaking to clients, supervisors, and co-workers.
Dexterity
Many tasks, such as connecting or attaching parts and using hand tools, require a steady hand and good hand-eye coordination.
Mechanical skills
Medical equipment repairers must be familiar with medical components and systems and how they interact. Often, repairers must disassemble and reassemble major parts for repair.
Physical stamina
Standing, crouching, and bending in awkward positions are common when making repairs to equipment. Therefore, workers should be physically fit.
Technical skills
Technicians use sophisticated diagnostic tools when working on complex medical equipment. They must be familiar with both the equipment’s internal parts and the appropriate tools needed to fix them.
Time-management skills
Because repairing vital medical equipment is urgent, workers must make good use of their time and perform repairs quickly.
Troubleshooting skills
As medical equipment becomes more intricate, problems become more difficult to identify. Therefore, repairers must be able to find and solve problems that are not immediately apparent.
Injury and Illness
About 40 medical equipment repairers become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 64% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Sprains, strains, tears
Fractures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by medical equipment repairers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical equipment repairers typically hold a associate's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as precision instrument and equipment repairers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for medical equipment repairers
Education requirements for medical equipment repairers vary, depending on a worker’s experience and area of specialization. However, the most common education is an associate’s degree in biomedical equipment technology or engineering. Those who repair less-complicated equipment, such as hospital beds and electric wheelchairs, may learn entirely through on-the-job training, sometimes lasting up to 1 year. Repairers who work on more sophisticated equipment, such as CAT scanners and defibrillators, may need a bachelor’s degree.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for medical equipment repairers
Although not mandatory, certification can demonstrate competence and professionalism, making candidates more attractive to employers. It can also increase a repairer’s opportunities for advancement. Most manufacturers and employers, particularly those in hospitals, often pay for their in-house medical repairers to become certified.
Some associations offer certifications for medical equipment repairers. For example, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) offers certification in three specialty areas—Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), Certified Radiology Equipment Specialists (CRES), and Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist (CLES).
Education level of Precision instrument and equipment repairers
Only 21% of precision instrument and equipment repairers have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by precision instrument and equipment repairers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Fewer details
Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Program
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Precision instrument and equipment repairers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
Fewer details
Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most medical equipment repairers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as medical equipment repairers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where medical equipment repairers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for precision instrument and equipment repairers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for precision instrument and equipment repairers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which precision instrument and equipment repairers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Precision instrument and equipment repairers (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
12% of Precision instrument and equipment repairers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 12% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 49% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
Fewer details
Distribution: Salaries of precision instrument and equipment repairers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Precision instrument and equipment repairers and gender
With 10% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 80% of careers.
Gender of Precision instrument and equipment repairers
Men (90%)
Women (10%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Fewer details
Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers
in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%, and the difference
for precision instrument and equipment repairers tops that, with the median salary for
men 46% higher than the median
salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Precision instrument and equipment repairers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Precision instrument and equipment repairers.
Race/origin of precision instrument and equipment repairers
White (79% )
Black (8% )
Asian (6% )
Other (3% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
