Clinical engineering equipment management

In many hospitals, administrators have established clinical engineering departments to manage effectively all the technological resources, especially those relating to medical equipment, that are necessary for providing patient care. The primary objective of these departments is to provide a broad-based engineering program that addresses all aspects of medical instrumentation and systems support. 

Standard POs that include the conditions of sale for medical equipment are usually used to initiate the order. At the time the order is placed, clinical engineering is notified of the order. In addition to current facility conditions, the management must address installation and approval requirements, responsibilities, and timetable payment, assignment, and cancelation software requirements and updates documentation clinical and technical training acceptance testing (hospital facility and vendor) warranty, spare parts, and service and price protection. 

Nonetheless, hospital-based clinical engineering departments—if adequately staffed and prepared— are often the best suited to the task of managing the equipment-related risks. To do so, however, also requires a thorough, organizational-wide understanding and awareness of each of the model s major elements and—especially—their interactions. Even if the hospital s risk management department is not famihar with Reason s model, they may be a tremendous resource in the development and dissemination of the overall plan. 

The last essential link in the equipment management program chain is an involvement and input into the equipment acquisition process. The lack of such involvement can and often does introduce error into the equipment inventory if the clinical engineering department does not know when a new equipment is purchased. Further, if the staff is not adequately trained or has the needed access to repair parts, diagnostic software, and so on, the preventive maintenance and repair ability of the department will also be severely compromised. 

Evaluation of indicators requires the collection, storage, and analysis of data from which the indicators can be derived. A standard set of data elements must be defined. Fortunately, one only has to look at commercially available equipment management systems to determine the most common data elements used. Indeed, most of the high-end software systems have more data elements than many clinical engineering departments are willing to collect. These standard data elements must be carefully defined and understood. This is especially important if the data will later be used for comparisons with other organizations. Different departments often have different definitions for the same data element. It is crucial... 

The acquisition of equipment is the next major part of effective equipment management. It follows and is indeed part of the equipment planning phase. Flowing from definition of requirements, specifications are developed. Bas on those specifications, a subset of possible equipment is evaluated for conformance to the specifications or standards, and purchase of the most appropriate equipment is initiated. When the equipment arrives at the hospital, the acceptance or incoming inspection of the equipment is a very common function that clinical engineering fulfils. 

Data quality initiatives can help to ensure the accuracy of clinical/biomedical engineering data. The data needed to establish basic, accurate, maintainable automated records for medical equipment management include nomenclature, manufacturer, nameplate model, serial number. 

The hospital uses the following risk criteria, at a minimum, for identifying, evaluating, and creating an inventory of equipment to be included in the medical equipment management plan before equipment is used equipment function, physical risks, equipment history, maintenance requirements, and environment of use. Clinical engineering uses the AIMS database to inventory and assist in equipment evaluation and risk stratification. 

Clinical engineering should use AIMS database to maintain a current, accurate, and separate inventory of all equipment identified in the medical equipment management plan, regardless of ownership. During scheduled inspections, verify the accuracy of the inventory. 

Clinical engineering identifies life-support equipment in the AIMS database. The definition of life-support equipment adopted by clinical engineering is medical devices intended to sustain life and whose failure to perform its primary function, when used according to manufacturer s instructions and clinical protocol, is expected to result in imminent death in the absence of immediate intervention. The maintenance of life-support equipment receives the highest priority in the medical equipment management efforts. The inspection schedule compliance goal is 100%. 

Evaluate. Clinical engineers evaluate equipment before it is purchased to ensure it meets standards of current patient care and safety. They may make recommendations on the equipment a health care system should purchase to provide patients with cutting-edge care. They may manage or coordinate service contracts or purchase negotiations and... 

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