Assessment of medical equipment maintenance management: proposed checklist using Iranian experience

Background Effective maintenance management of medical equipment is one of the major issues for quality of care, for providing cost-effective health services and for saving scarce resources. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive checklist for assessing the medical equipment maintenance management (MEMM) in the Iranian hospitals. Methods This is a multi-methods study. First, data related to factors which affect the assessment of MEMM were collected through a systematic review in PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Embase, and web of science without any time limitation until October 2015, updated in June 2017. Then, we investigated these factors affecting using document review and interviews with experts in the Iranian hospitals. In the end, the results of the first and second stages were combined using content analysis and the final checklist was developed in a two-round Delphi. Results Using a combination of factors extracted from the systematic and qualitative studies, the primary checklist was developed in the form of assessment checklists in seven dimensions. The final checklist includes 7 dimensions and 19 sub-categories: “resources = 3,” “quality control = 3,” “information bank = 4,” “education = 1,” “service = 3,” “inspection and preventive maintenance = 2” and “design and implementation = 3.” Conclusions Developing an assessment checklist for MEMM provide a comprehensive framework for the proper implementation of accurate assessment of medical equipment maintenance. This checklist can be used to improve the profitability of health facilities and the reliability of medical equipment. In addition, it is implicated in the decision-making in support of selection, purchase, repair and maintenance of medical equipment, especially for capital equipment managers and medical engineers in hospitals and also for the assessment of this process.

Determining the Priority of Medical Equipment Maintenance with Analytical Hierarchy Process

The best quality of services provided by health care facilities can be realized if medical devices are in a reliable and safe condition. A large number of medical devices and the use of various types of medical devices have been a problem for hospital management to decide the level of priority in carrying out medical equipment maintenance. The purpose of the maintenance is to increase their availability and to reduce maintenance costs. This study aims to show how to determine the priority level of medical device maintenance based on the calculation of the criticality scores of medical devices. The criticality scores are obtained based on the assessment of criteria, sub-criteria, and grade by using the method of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The devices with higher critical weight take higher priority for maintenance than devices with lower critical weight. The approach was applied for 20 medical devices at the Out Patient Department of Eye Hospital in Jakarta to describe how to prioritize the maintenance of medical devices.

Influential factors on medical equipment maintenance management

PurposeEffective maintenance management of medical equipment is one of the major issues for quality of care and cost-effectiveness especially in modern hospitals. An effective medical equipment maintenance management (MEMM) consists of adequate planning, management and implementation. This is essential for providing good health services and saving scarce resources. Considering the importance of the subject, the purpose of this paper is to extract the influential factors on MEMM using a qualitative approach.Design/methodology/approachDocuments review and interviews were main methods for data collection. Semi structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 14 clinical engineers with different degree of education and job levels. Interviews were voice recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative data were analyzed using a content analysis approach (inductive and deductive) to identify the underlying themes and sub-themes.FindingsFactors influencing an effective and efficient MEMM system categorized in seven themes and 19 sub-themes emerged. The themes included: “resources,” “quality control,” “information bank,” “education,” “service,” “inspection and preventive maintenance” and “design and implementation.”Originality/valueThe proposed framework provides a basis for a comprehensive and accurate assessment of medical equipment maintenance. The findings of this study could be used to improve the profitability of healthcare facilities and the reliability of medical equipment.

A Conceptual Framework to determine Medical Equipment Maintenance in Hospital Using RCM Method

Maintenance services are performed to ensure the equipment is operating according to manufacturer standard and maintained at a desired level of quality. The implementation of maintenance services may prevent unexpected breakdown and disruption of operations in a hospital. However, there were numbers of cases reported on the frequent breakdown of medical equipment even though the maintenance program is in place and practised. Therefore, the reliability of the maintenance services was questioned especially when the breakdowns occurred after the maintenance services being performed. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to determine the accurate maintenance program for medical equipment in the hospital using Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) method. The recommendation from the RCM will assist to identify the root cause of the breakdown and minimize the number of breakdown for medical equipment in the hospital. RCM process is known as one of the most effective maintenance approaches to reduce the number of maintenance activities and hence minimizing the cost of maintenance incurred.