Every lesson in CBET Academy

The exam

Exam domains

How the course works

1. Cheat sheet. Everything the exam expects you to recall cold, printable.
2. Starter test. A few questions per exam domain, with a confidence rating on each.
3. Your tutorial. Lessons chosen from what you missed or guessed, each with a checkpoint and a deeper explanation.
4. Practice tests and retraining. 50 questions, weighted like the real exam. Every miss is explained and feeds back into your lessons.
5. 3 of your last 5 at 80%. That unlocks one full-length test on the real exam's clock: 165 questions in 180 minutes, at its real passing score of 70%. Pass it once and you are ready to book.

Every lesson

The first 15 lessons are open to read here. Every lesson, with its checkpoint, is free inside the course.

Unit 1: Anatomy and Physiology

The body systems a biomed's equipment monitors, supports, and replaces, and the vocabulary clinicians use to describe them.

1. Body Organization, Terminology, and the Skin 8 min
2. The Cardiovascular System 11 min
3. The Respiratory System 9 min
4. The Nervous and Musculoskeletal Systems 9 min
5. Gastrointestinal, Endocrine, Renal, and Blood 8 min
6. Skin, Skeleton, Muscle, and the Brain in Detail 10 min
7. Digestion, Lymph and Immunity, Hormones, Kidneys, Reproduction, and Blood Terms 11 min

Unit 2: Fundamentals of Electricity and Electronics

The theory behind every circuit you troubleshoot, and the power systems that keep a hospital running.

8. Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Power 10 min
9. AC, Transformers, Hospital Power Distribution, and Isolation 11 min
10. Passive Components, Filters, and Reading Schematics 10 min
11. Active Devices, Power Supplies, and Amplifiers 10 min
12. Batteries, UPS, and Power Conditioning 9 min
13. Circuit Analysis: Energy, Dividers, Kirchhoff's Laws, Bridges, and Op-Amp Gain 11 min
14. AC Power, Impedance, Transducers, Batteries by the Numbers, and Regulators 11 min

Unit 3: Public Safety in the Healthcare Facility

Electrical safety and its standards, infection control, hazard communication, fire, gas, radiation, MRI, and the regulators and standards that govern equipment programs.

15. Electrical Safety: Shock, Leakage, Grounding, and GFCI 10 min
16. NFPA 99, IEC 60601-1, Limits, and Safety Testing in the course
17. Infection Control, Universal Precautions, and PPE in the course
18. Hazard Communication, Signage, Fire, Gas, Radiation, Laser, and MRI Safety in the course
19. CMS, Accreditation, AAMI EQ Standards, and the CMMS in the course
20. NFPA 99 in Detail: Cylinders, Medical Gas Systems, Receptacles, Cords, Power Taps, Nurse Call, and Telecom Rooms in the course
21. HazCom and GHS, Exposure Limits, Waste Rules, Precaution Systems, and the Accrediting Bodies in the course

Unit 4: Physiological Monitoring

ECG, blood pressure, oximetry, capnography, temperature, respiration, telemetry, fetal monitoring, EEG, and the test equipment and units behind them.

22. ECG: Electrodes, Leads, Waveform, and Paper Math in the course
23. Blood Pressure: NIBP and Invasive Monitoring in the course
24. Oximetry, Capnography, Respiration, and Temperature in the course
25. Physiological Monitors, Telemetry, and Vital Signs Monitors in the course
26. Fetal Monitoring and EEG in the course
27. Test Equipment and Units of Measure in the course
28. Manual Blood Pressure, Rhythms on the Strip, EEG Landmarks, Respiration Methods, and Analyzer Specifications in the course

Unit 5: Diagnostic, Infusion, Therapeutic, and Laboratory Equipment

The office diagnostic devices, the pumps that deliver fluids and drugs, the therapeutic devices on the wards, and the laboratory equipment the outline lists.

29. Diagnostic Equipment in the course
30. Infusion Equipment in the course
31. Therapeutic Equipment in the course
32. Laboratory Equipment in the course
33. Imaging Equipment: Ultrasound Physics, Radiography, Fluoroscopy, CT, MRI, and PET in the course
34. Diagnostic and Laboratory Devices in Detail: Otoscopes, Ophthalmoscopes, Audiograms, Uroflow Meters, Tympanic Thermometers, Endoscopes, Blood Gas Electrodes, Spectrophotometers, Hematocrit Centrifuges, and Microtomes in the course
35. Infusion and Therapeutic Devices in Detail: Nutrition Pumps, Syringe and PCA Settings, Infusion Modes, Infant Warmers, Ultrasound Therapy, Hypo/Hyperthermia Units, Aspirators, SCDs, and Bilirubin Lights in the course

Unit 6: Perioperative and Life-Support Equipment

The operating room's devices and the machines that keep patients alive: ESU, video, tourniquets, sterilizers, warmers, tables, lights, microscopes, defibrillators, pacemakers, balloon pumps, ventilators, and anesthesia machines.

36. Electrosurgery and Surgical Video Integration in the course
37. Tourniquets, Sterilizers, Fluid Warmers, Tables, Lights, and Surgical Microscopes in the course
38. Defibrillators, External Pacemakers, and Balloon Pumps in the course
39. Ventilators and Anesthesia Machines in the course
40. Heart-Lung Machines, Hemodialysis Circuits, Pacing Routes, the Anesthesia Gas Path, ESU Waveforms, Surgical Lasers, and Sterilization Methods in the course

Unit 7: Troubleshooting Method

How to approach any broken device: a repeatable method, device failure versus use error, power and module faults, signal and cable faults, prioritizing repairs, and communicating with staff.

41. The Troubleshooting Method and Device Versus Use Error in the course
42. Power Supply, Battery, and Module Faults in the course
43. Signal, Cable, Connector, and Sensor Faults in the course
44. Prioritizing Repairs and Deciding Repair, Replace, or Escalate in the course
45. Communication, User Training, and Closing the Loop in the course
46. Power Supply Faults, Criticality, Root Cause Analysis, and Local Versus Network Problems in the course

Unit 8: Troubleshooting by Device Category

Applying the method to monitoring, diagnostic, infusion, therapeutic, perioperative, life-support, and laboratory devices, plus preventive maintenance, performance verification, and documentation.

47. Monitoring Faults: Localized Versus System-Wide in the course
48. Diagnostic and Infusion Device Faults in the course
49. Therapeutic, Perioperative, and Life-Support Faults in the course
50. Laboratory Device Faults and Environmental Problems in the course
51. Preventive Maintenance, Performance Verification, and Documentation in the course
52. Fault Tables: Monitoring, Laboratory, Diagnostic, Infusion, Therapeutic, and Operating Room Equipment in the course

Unit 9: Healthcare Information Technology

Networking fundamentals, wireless and infrastructure, network troubleshooting tools, device integration with the EMR through HL7 and DICOM, protected data and cybersecurity, and computer hardware and software troubleshooting.

53. Networking Fundamentals: Addresses, Cables, and the Devices Between in the course
54. Wireless, Access Point Controllers, KVMs, Virtual Servers, and the Cloud in the course
55. Network Troubleshooting Tools and Method in the course
56. Device Integration: EMR, Middleware, HL7, and DICOM in the course
57. Protected Health Information and Medical Device Cybersecurity in the course
58. Computer Hardware and Software Troubleshooting in the course
59. Healthcare IT Law and Standards: HITECH, HIPAA Titles, DMCA, FDA Data Systems, IEC 80001, and MDS2 in the course
60. Network Concepts and Tools: OSI Layers, Topologies, Binary Subnet Masks, Hubs Versus Switches, PPP, Cable Testers, TDRs, Ping and ICMP, Fiber Inspection, and the Clinical Information Systems in the course

On exam day

• 165 questions in 3 hours, closed book, with a simple calculator allowed. That is over a minute per question; do not rush the math items.
• Some questions are unscored trial items. A question that seems to be from nowhere may be one of them; answer it and move on.
• Read for the qualifier: FIRST, MOST likely, BEST. In problem-solving items the first step is usually the patient, then the simplest cause, then the accessory.
• Know the safety numbers cold: leakage limits and the current thresholds, ECG paper math, pressure and temperature conversions, and the infusion rate formula.
• Two forms of ID, arrive early, sleep the night before.