EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Free discussion Common Equipment Faults

Hi all.
Not sure if this has been done but i thought i'd start a topic on common, recurring faults, errors or alarms with particular equipment. Also while i think about it, how about a seperate topic on typical misuse / user error etc also! Here goes:
1. Baxter Colleugue: under infusion.
2. PB 840 Ventilator: KP0009 Rolling Thunder.
3. F&P MR730 and MR850 Humidifiers: Constant low chamber and airway temperature alarms (especially with CPAP).
4. Baxter 6201: F94
5. Philips Trim 3 ECG: no trace

Thats enough to get the ball rolling. Bye for now.
Topper

There's nothing new under the sun, as they say, Mate. The idea was not particularly well received by the forum last time, however!

Surely we can list more recurring faults for the Baxter Colleague such as:-
Pump head failures.
The screen being blank (because some wally decided to put the control on the back of the handle).
The unit will not turn on (because the pump head is not in position).
The staff can't use the unit (even though there is nothing wrong with it).
The batteries don't last.

Sorry another rant.....

Lee

... and one which I'm sure that Baxter (one of the sponsors of this website) will be so glad to hear!

The constant alarming when someone prangs one!
i.e. the classic 0400 AM phone call to the on-call tech "Our Colleague pump is constantly alarming and we can’t silence it?"
Techs reply, "please wrap a blanket around it and stick it in the storeroom, someone will look at it in the morning!"
Lol

Ed

... not really a laughing matter, Mate. But it does tend to support my belief that large hospitals (ie those with large biomed departments) should be afforded 24-hour cover. Not on-call, but a tech on site at all times of day and night! Can I volunteer (...that would be a laugh)?

I think thats gonna go down like a lead balloon mate!

Ed

What? 24-hour cover ... or me volunteering? Ha, ha.

It all depends whether the department is really serious about providing a quality service, in my opinion. It's something that I (with others, of course) have done in the past. What's the problem?

Sorry I forgot the constant alarm, but if i think about the Colleague for to long i remember why we standardised on a different manufacturer.

Lee

Where I used to work, we did a 24hr on-call clinical, as well as technical, support. And they still do. We worked two shifts’ after the late shift at 9pm we started a sleep-in on-call until the start of the early shift. You worked both shifts as well as the on-call.
As the staff got more used to this service they would call us for more and more trivial problems. Their answer to us complaining that it was an emergency on-call service was that we were on site and they were at work and we were as well. They forgot that at the end of the night shift they would go back to bed, we had another shift to do.
I think this idea is very good especially if you are doing clinical support but beware of the pit falls, a waking service would be very good, access to all the equipment out of hours is very useful.
They have problems with the working time directive now though; sleep-in is counted as being at work so they are working from 9.00p.m. to 7.30a.m. without the chance of an official break as only one member of staff was present. The sleep-in hours are also counted as part of the working week (currently 4 shifts of 8.75hrs). The powers that be in the hospital say sort it but with no more staff and no more resources. I believe currently they sign a waiver but anyone could retract that at anytime and stuff the system totally. As usual the NHS getting by on good will.
And just before someone asks the payment was a fixed sum whether called or not. I do not know the current rate.

Sorry not a post on "Common Equipment Faults"
Robert