What Is The Importance Of Biomedical Equipment Maintenance?


The main objective of the management of the biomedical equipment is to guarantee the safe operation, maximum benefits and effective cost of all the biomedical equipment in use, through risk-oriented maintenance, in order to provide a safe and functional environment for the equipment and spaces. It is also considered as a tool that serves to support medical and engineering personnel in the development, control and direction of a maintenance program for the biomedical equipment.

Maintenance is a function that produces a really good, which can be summarized in the capacity to produce with quality, safety and profitability. This is how this technical-administrative activity is mainly aimed at preventing breakdowns, and at restoring the infrastructure and hospital equipment to its normal operating state, as well as the activities aimed at improving the functioning of a team.
In the field of health, biomedical equipment are indispensable elements in the provision of services for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of diseases. However, poor management of these can lead to the realization of latent risks in this type of technology, so the institutions that provide the service must have procedures to avoid them. The statistics developed in developed countries ensure that 21% of hospital accidents are caused by biomedical technology.
In this sense, the work of the maintenance department is very closely related to the prevention of accidents and injuries, since it has the responsibility of maintaining in good condition the equipment used in health care processes.

And the importance of the maintenance of the biomedical equipment?

Let's see it in some cases.




In the health sector the maintenance of medical equipment plays a fundamental role in the prevention of adverse events, to such an extent that this operating procedure, in this type of cases, is a protection barrier that allows to guarantee the safety of the user.
A study carried out from January to June 2010 in the surgery service of a health service provider institution in Colombia, revealed that in this period of time, 29 cases of adverse events associated with medical devices were reported, as well as some of the collaborators of the institution considered these adverse events preventable in their entirety. In this investigation it was found that incomplete or unfulfilled maintenance is one of the most representative contributory factors in the incidence of adverse events to medical teams.


In addition to the damages that can be caused to the patient, in the economic aspect this means that the lack of maintenance of medical equipment is a factor that causes losses in health care. Considering this an institutional problem, it is necessary to contribute to the improvement by evaluating the compliance of the maintenance, in order to avoid damages to the patient, unnecessary costs and guarantee the quality of the service.

And the Guilt is from Who?

When these types of events and adverse incidents happen, the first thing that is done as we have seen before is a root cause analysis of the problem. Within which all factors contributing to the occurrence of the event such as staff, mode of use of equipment, equipment maintenance, etc. will be taken into account.
Do not wait for this type of events to occur in institutions, to implement safe practices related to the proper management of biomedical equipment.

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How to implement it?

A maintenance program is a set of activities developed in order to conserve biomedical equipment, in safe, efficient and economic operating conditions, preventing damage or repairing them when they have already occurred. In this sense, the maintenance comes to have connotation, when the operation of the equipment that the institution has for the provision of Health Care is kept in continuous and reliable operation.
The maintenance objectives are:
Guarantee the planned availability and trust of the desired function.
Satisfy all the requirements of the quality system of the institution.
Comply with all safety and environmental regulations.
Maximize the overall benefit
Avoid occupational risks.
     Further,

The maintenance of biomedical equipment prolongs the useful life of them.
It allows to be prepared to attend emergency situations.
Avoid erroneous results.
Protects patients and staff, especially as they can generate situations of accident risk or other health damage.


And what is the role of the Biomedical Engineer?

 Coordinate maintenance management is one of the tasks of biomedical engineers in the institutions providing the health service, with the goal of achieving a significant reduction in risks in terms of inadequate equipment operation. The profile of this professional includes, among other things, the risk management of the use of technologies and the implementation and supervision of regulations on biosafety and technological use.
Biomedical engineering as a profession must work in coordination with clinicians, medical schools and institutions providing health services in the construction of safe healthcare environments.

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