Volume 18, Number 8 ______________________________________________May 2000

Preventive Maintenance

What is your definition of Preventive Maintenance? Lately I have seen a great deal of concern for performing and documenting Safety Checks. My concern is that we often confuse safety checks for a Preventive Maintenance. I do not mean the safety tests that some think of as PM or performance checks that look for problems that are almost always manifested to the operator.

Think about this for aminute! If there is a problem and the operator does not know it, do they know how the unit is supposed to operate? Is this not operator error? If they know about it, they should report it to you. If they do not, this is a dangerous situation that we should strive to eliminate. So how often should you be the one to find a piece of broken equipment? Not very often. Some problems may go unobserved by the operator but when the maintenance checks are performed by the service provider, the problems will probably be missed also. Calibration may pick up a few problems so there is a definite need to verify calibration.

However, back to Preventive Maintenance. By this I mean servicing equipment to obtain the reliability built into the equipment. The analogy I usaully refer to is automobile tires that are rated at 60,000 miles. You can keep them properly inflated, balanced, aligned, atc. (preventive maintenance) to obtain the 60,000 miles. You will probably not get much more though (inherent reliabilty). Don't keep them inflated, balanced, aligned, etc. and you're asking for trouble and you will no doubt be spending hard earned dollars well ahead of time to replace them.

Shielded electrodes for fetal monitors

As of May 9, 2000, a requirement from the FDA prohibits the use of any patient leads with exposed metal connections. This has been in effect for two years for cardiac monitors but just goes into effect this year for fetal electrodes.

The FDA has stated that there is no grandfather clause of this requirement and no patient electrodes with exposed metal may be used on any patients on or after May 9, 2000.

Medical Equipment Management Best Pratice

Finding yourself becoming more and more involved in the decision making process of buying medical equipment? This can be quite a lengthy process considering such things as: needs, assesments of existing capabilities, demographics, budget, priority, technical life, specifications, sources (competition), bids, delivery date, acceptance, training, sustainment (life cycle costs), maintenance, residual value, etc. The process even becomes more complicate when considering new technology.

One book I found that focused on technology management and did it well is "Medical Technology Management" by Yadin David and Thomas Judd. It's part of the Spacelabs Biophysical Measurement series of books. If you know someone at spacelabs, or are a customer, ask them for a copy. They will usally provide it for free. Otherwise the price is about $30.00, if they really sell them.