On the evening of June 13th, during the banquet dinner for the 2019 ACCES Annual Educational Seminar and Trade Expo, a clinical engineering professional from Atlantic Canada, Sean Nobles, was recognised for having distinguished himself through his hard work, exceptional service, technical skills, and dedication to the clinical engineering profession.
As Service New Brunswick’s current Healthcare Technology Consultant and Radiation Safety Officer (RSO), Sean Nobles is a Clinical Engineering Technologist who has distinguished himself in the field through his hard work, exceptional service, technical skills, positive can-do attitude, and dedication to the Clinical Engineering profession.
After graduating from an Electronic Technology program at NBCC – Saint John in 1976, Sean would go on to work for a few companies with his Degree in hand before he officially fell into the world of Clinical Engineering in 1981. Sean was hired at the Saint John Regional Hospital in New Brunswick (NB) as Engineering Technologist for the Radiation Oncology Department. He worked in this capacity for over 10 years, building up his knowledge and experience with servicing of radiation treatment devices. In 1992, Sean switched roles into the private sector by accepting the position of Technical Service Representative with Siemens Electric. His work brought him all over NB and beyond, servicing and installing major equipment and systems. He amassed a wealth of knowledge, but soon caught the education bug: Sean returned to college again in 1997 to earn a diploma in Business Information Technology with a specialty in Software Development. Over the next half-decade, Sean applied his technical training as a program developer for various companies in his hometown, Saint John, NB. Before long, Sean was faced with an opportunity he couldn’t refuse: the chance to turn full-circle, back to where his passion for Clinical Engineering started. Sean picked up the role of Medical Equipment Technologist for the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Saint John Regional Hospital in 2004, and he quickly rose up the ranks to occupy a supervisory position as Chief Technologist. Sean was involved in many major Medical Equipment procurement and decommissioning projects and, during a major restructure and provincial amalgamation of Clinical Engineering services in New Brunswick in 2013, Sean was chosen to become the Healthcare Technology Consultant and RSO.
Throughout his career, Sean has demonstrated time and again his professionalism, technical skills, and exemplary work ethics, which has earned him the respect of his colleagues and hospital staff. Although he is now approaching retirement, this has not slowed Sean down one bit: his commitment to patient safety has seen him taking the reins on a major initiative to improve and centralize the Alert and Recall process for Medical Equipment in NB. Sean is now the Medical Device Safety Officer for all of NB. He also sits on the Regional Patient Safety Committee for Horizon Health Network, and he is always ready to put his hand up when a new project comes down the pipe. Finally, Sean has served on the organizing committees for the ACCES conference in the past years, whenever it was held in NB.
Sean’s positive can-do attitude isn’t limited to his professional life: outside of work, he has always strived to help and inspire those around him: he has coached hockey, soccer and baseball; organized a local community association; helped out with fundraising for various groups and sports teams; and served as president of a local Little League Association. If you ask him though, Sean’s biggest accomplishment is raising three well adjusted, successful children, equally with his partner Colleen.
In summary, Sean Nobles is an individual who - through his dedication, passion and a desire to help and inspire others - has always brought positive contributions to the advancement of our profession. Sean is truly a great example of what every Clinical Engineering professional should strive to be, every day.