Medical Device Education and Training for Healthcare Professionals

Our members include NHS staff, clinical educators, technicians, nurses, engineers, lecturers, scientists, company representatives, academia partners and regulators.

We are involved in every aspect of medical device training and help design, develop and deliver thousands of teaching sessions every year ranging from; face to face, on line-learning, lectures and seminars.

Our roles vary and can include teaching on basic temperature measuring devices, suction units, infusion devices, oxygen therapy, beds, cardiac monitors through to life saving ventilators and anaesthetic machines.

Our members are also busy helping to plan and lead many local and national projects including;

• The MDSO (Medical Device Safety Officer) network in the UK
• Member of the NHS National Patient Safety Response and Advisory Panel (NatRAP) that help review and develop national patient safety alerts
• The Editorial Board for the MDSO network that help plan and deliver monthly webex and update meetings about medical device safety and training

Our current projects include work on DERS (Dose Error Reduction Systems) for infusion devices and Medical Gas safety.

NAMDET also leads the development of the Medical Devices training modules on the NHS national E Learning for Health (eLfH) training website, that currently has over 1 million subscribers in the UK.

Membership is free and all we ask is that you get involved, support each other, share your experiences and help promote medical device education and training.

Please take time to check ‘Our Team’ and make contact with your regional chair and secretary.

If you don’t have an established regional group yet, then ‘contact us‘ via the website and we can help put you in touch with colleagues and set up a new regional group for you.

• We have a number of regional groups that you can join for free
• Our MDET journal
• Regular meetings (virtual and face to face).

We also hold a national conference every November where we meet up with our colleagues and share ‘what’s new’ and link in with regulators and our industry partners.

In 2006, The Department of Health (DoH) were all too aware of the exponential growth of technologies in health, and to this end formed Training for Innovation (TFI) with a view to help close the gap between medical device technology and the end-user, whether it is a nurse, healthcare professional, patient or carer.

“For new medical technologies, we will simplify the pathway by which they pass from development into wider use, and develop ways to benchmark and monitor uptake and training needs to enable staff to respond more effectively and flexibly to this dynamic environment…”

Professor the Lord Darzi, Training for Innovation founding chairman

In 2011, TFI handed over the management to a new, not-for-profit association and the National Association of Medical Device Educators and Trainers was formed (NAMDET). The aim was to take up the challenge and maintain the momentum that had already started. A steering group was established in 2011 and this was quickly followed in 2012 by a new management group whose focus was to set up the new association and build a business model that would ensure NAMDET was officially registered in the UK.

NAMDET’s mission statement clearly sets outs its aims and aspirations and, to ensure transparency surrounding its business transactions and relationships with manufacturers.