| Course Description | Pricing & Discounts | Course Outline | Faculty | What You Get | Laser Certification Exams | Facilities | Refunds |
YES! You can learn to maintain and repair your own lasers! These are primarily directed toward Biomedical Engineers working in hospitals and medical facilities, but anyone that is technically inclined can learn to perform regular preventive maintenance and front line troubleshooting of lasers. We have technicians come from aesthetic laser practices, and occassionally even individual physicians. No special licensing or permissions are required from government agences nor the laser manufacturer (kind of like working on your own car). The more you know about optics and electronics the better you will do in the long term, but all you really need to know for regular laser maintenance is basic electricity and how to use a meter, and basic mechanical systems like plumbing and cooling systems. This is NOT a Laser Engineering Course. It is a Laser Mechanics course to teach you how to fix your own lasers and save lots of money. The course will integrate you into a network of laser service and parts providers that can help back you up when you need it. Faculty offer free advice after the training on a limited basis, but will offer you good rates to come in as your service backup as well. Laser Certification exams are optionally provided at the end of each week long course.
Our seven day school is designed to teach hands-on procedures (alignments, calibrations, optics assembly & cleaning, etc.) to the electronically experienced biomedical engineer. The first four days of the program focuses on the CORE laser & optical components and subassemblies that are common to all laser systems (like a general mechanics class for cars). This allows the engineer to provide the periodic maintenance on ALL of their hospital laser systems, and provide front line service repair on most. This is accomplished through extensive hands-on work with CO2, Argon and Nd:Yag laser systems which are representative of the majority of subassemblies in ALL lasers. The last three days of the program delve into more depth with some specific laser systems, and spends more time with ophthalmic laser systems including Q-switched Yags, and the surgical Ho:Yag. Procedures on the KTP, Pulsed dye and Alexandrite lasers are reviewed in demonstration and VideoConference. Specific procedures on additional models of lasers will also be performed, and these additional models will rotate and change from course to course. The weeklong program will cover theory on laser biophysics, more advanced laser physics and laser electro-optics, and biological effects and surgical techniques which are all included on various sections of the NCLE laser certification exam. An adequate faculty to student ratio is always maintained by expanding faculty based upon course registration to keep it approximately 4 students average per faculty. Most classes average 8-12 students. An intensive review session is held at the end of the class in preparation for the Laser Certification exam, for those taking it. Don't expect to be a laser expert at the end of the course, but you can expect to be able to provide your normal laser preventive maintenance, frontline troubleshooting and replacement of standard components like flashlamps, dye cartridges, deionizer cartridges and optics.
This is a comprehensive program on Laser Repair. It starts at the beginning and sets the foundation for learning laser optics and subassemblies in most systems, and teaches "bread and butter" alignments, PM's and troubleshooting on the "mainstay" lasers. It then focuses on more specific types of lasers and more in-depth procedures on ophthalmic lasers and systems such as Pulsed Dye and KTP lasers. The course emphasizes "hands-on" with LOTS of touching and doing, and works toward developing an underlying understanding of lasers and maintenance procedures, rather than rote rule memorization. This is truly a "Laser Mechanics" course.
Pricing and Discounts:
$6150 includes the course, 8
hotel nights, all breakfasts and lunches, and one group dinner, plus
the fee for the NCLE Laser Certification exams if taken.
a $600 discount is provided for payments
received by us 30 days or more in
advance. (additional discounts are offered for multiple attendees at
one course from the same facility)
Full payment is required prior to attendance at the program.
(*Purchase
orders should be made out for the full course fee of $6150, and the
invoice will state the discount that may be taken by these dates.
Registrants from outside the United States will be required to
submit payment in US Dollars prior to the course, in order to
guarantee the hotel reservation - this prepayment also qualifies
them for the applicable discount)
COMPLETE PACKAGE - for those needing a complete package that will also include car rental for a week and airfare from anywhere within the continental U.S., we can bundle all of these together for you for a total fee of $8150. Call to ask us to send the quote. For the rest of you that don't require such bundled packages, we think you can probably do better yourself on the costs of the car and airfare. We already get the best rates on the hotel.
Click for a detailed outline. Due to the unpredictable nature of
some of our technical work, this schedule is adjusted on an
as-needed basis during the week.
The course ordinarily starts on a Monday morning (sometimes shifts
because of holidays). We finish with most things by Saturday, and
use Sunday morning for "catch up" and other work at the discretion
of students. The Certification Review session is then conducted
Sunday afternoon, with testing given that Monday morning until about
1pm max. Students frequently opt to take the test right after the
Sunday review session, and in that case you'll be finished entirely
Sunday afternoon, but you can't count on that for sure.
Faculty:
-
Click here for a faculty information page with more biographical
and contact information for each faculty:
Not all faculty members are present for each course, but an adequate
faculty/student ratio is maintained - about 1 to 4 overall for the
course.
|
Course Faculty: Dan Little - WorldLink Biomedical, NY Gregory Absten - Professional Medical Education Assn, FL Herb Deigl - Universal Medical Lasers, FL Keith Stechow - Surgical Laser Services, OH Jim McDaniel - West Coast Lasers, CA |
Rotating
or Past Faculty Members: Ken Karst - K2 Imaging, and MedCentral Health System, Granville OH Sydney Sukuta - San Jose Community College, San Jose CA John McCauley - Ophir Spiricon, Indianapolis, IN Don Cielsielski - Trace Services, Chicago IL Chris Zelich - PhotoVac Laser, Grove City OH John Abel - EA Services, Penn Argyle PA Terry Storer - The Laser Medic, Bedford TX Tom Woodward - GE Clinical Services, AL Frank Lazaro - Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center, Newark OH Angel Rodriguez, Del Ray Beach FL Ken May, Laser-Med Services, Greater NYC area Tom Enneking, Mt Carmel Hospital, Columbus OH Steven Jones, Independent Service, Indianapolis IN Eric Absten, WorldLink Biomedical, Columbus OH |
What You Get:
- Seven Day Course, plus 1 Day testing. Printed b/w course
manuals. Electronic color pdf copy of the powerpoint presentations
and course manuals.
- Hotel for 8 nights - Drury Inn Convention Center, downtown
Columbus Ohio
- All breakfasts, lunches and one group dinner
- Laser Repair Technician Certification Exam - through the NCLE.
Taken at the option of the attendee, but included with the course.
- Misc laser resources and materials provided on a memory stick for each
student
- Access to faculty on an ongoing basis for continued support. Basic phone
support for free and service backup at competetive rates.
- Eligibility to register for individual "Advanced" training on specific
makes/models of lasers, at your own facility or the faculty's. (must
be an alumni to be eligible)
Accredited for 48 hours Continuing Education Units. BMED's may
individually submit application to AAMI for their credits.
Certificate of Laser Training provided.
Laser Certification Exams
The various Laser Certifications offered
through the NCLE are voluntary professional credentials. They
are not a requirement to perform Laser Maintenance and Repair, but
do reflect a higher level of knowledge to the holder of the
Certification. This course does qualify one to sit for the NCLE
Laser Repair Technician Certification at the course end, and the testing/application fee is
covered as part of this course.
Participants are encourage to download and read the
Laser Certification Candidate Handbook
for details including the
discussion of "Certification Candidates" vs full Certification.
Facilities:
Drury Inn
and Suites Columbus Convention Center -
This link is on our website and shows what's
around the hotel. This is in the downtown "Entertainment District",
with lots to do.
88 E. Nationwide Boulevard
Columbus, OH 43215
Tel: 614.221.7008
*Note - we
prepay the hotel costs for you and make all arrangements, so don't
book rooms separately.
Actual Classes are held in our office at:
3136 Broadway, Suite 101
Grove City, OH 43123
Tel: 614.883.1739
Transportation: We'll all meet in the lobby
of the hotel the first day. Most people will have rental cars so
we'll car pool all week to the classroom which is about 15 minutes
away.
If you don't have a car we'll find transportation for you, including
driving in with our faculty staying at the hotel. You will still
need a shuttle to the hotel from the airport.
Refunds:
CLICK HERE
for our full refund policy. In a nutshell - Due to the high costs
and small size of these classes, the repair classes are
noncancellable and nonrefundable once the registration has been
made. Your registration is a committment to attend so please do not
register until you are ready. Substitutions of the student attending
may be made at any time prior to the start of the program. In severe
extenuating circumstances we will consider substituting a later
course, provided that the "lost" costs of the hotel are covered by
the participant. We pay the complete hotel bill in advance once the
registration is received.