EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management Pendants ?

Regarding the pros and cons, I have very little experience of pendants, the matron in charge of our ITU want the pendants for 3 new beds, to make it easier for cleaning, and not have trailing cables.

What are the cons?

John,
We are in the middle of a massive rebuild we are looking at pendants for something like 40 icu beds.
Weve sent bods all over the place looking at different pendants already in use and factory showrooms (including abroad).
Theres lots of issues that need to be addressed including asking :-
1. Do your pendants have suitable equipment rails to mount medical equipment from other manufacturers ?
(particularly Oxylitre, Therapy Equipment, East Healthcare/Penlon)
2. If no to 1. above will you supply and fit, free of charge, all brackets and fittings to enable such fitting ?
3. Does any ventilator docking system / trolley you will supply fit other manufacturers ventilators ? (particularly Drager, Engstrom, Puritan Bennett, Taema, Siemens)
4. If no to 3. above will you supply and fit, free of charge, all brackets and fittings to enable such fitting?
5. Does your ventilator docking system / trolley have independent ups facility?
6. If yes to 5. above please state spec.
7. Does your tender bid include all fixtures and fittings to enable the pendant to be fixed to the ceiling of the room and be fully operational, including all brackets, mountings and other fittings?
8. If no to 7. above state what is needed and the expected cost of such items that will be needed to have the pendant fully operational.
9. Can all MGPS terminal units be isolated to work on independently. Without having to switch off any supply to the rest of the pendant and / or other pendants in the clinical area?
10. Can the air supply used to drive the pendant be worked on and isolated without effecting the medical functionality of the pendant?
11. If the pendant is air driven can the pendant still be manoeuvred satisfactorily by one person if the air supply fails?
12. Can the electricity supply to the pendant be isolated in order for working on the pendant without effecting any other electrical supply to the clinical area?
13. Does the pendant have any UPS capacity?
14. If yes to 13. above please supply spec.

Basically I think what weve found is that with items like this you need to tie the supplier down as much as possible especially in areas such as the footplate that fits into the ceiling to take the pendant. There are lots of different plates. For different ceiling builds.

Greetings, all.

Kreuzer pendants are now supplied by Trumpf (feel free to laugh, we did), tel. 01666 841001.

We have two pendants; didn't go for more as the manager of the day feared making the unit 'look like Jarrow shipyards'.

Our staff like them - it's easier to reach gas and power sockets than with beam systems, a big issue for short nurses.
However they do clutter up a small cubicle if not positioned carefully.

I have to say we've had problems in the past getting Kreuzer/Trumpf out for servicing before, but that seems to be resolved now. My advice would be to get a commitment to service in writing from any supplier at the outset - and not leave this to purchasing who lose things .

Moira

Just to add to my earlier post about Kreuzer (or Trumpf).

They build the arms to your spec, so in our ICU we have twin pendants with O2, air and suction on both sides, but more on the left for the ventilator; lots of power outlets, but more on the right for the infusion pumps; telephone and computer connection points for the local Spacelabs network and the hospital network; three mains circuits to each bed, one of which is taken from a UPS in the plant room and feeds special sockets so they cant plug the mobile x-ray machine into it !
The HDU has a lower spec with fewer gas outlets and fewer power points.
All the booms have mounting rails and they will fit any rail you want in any position you want. The panels can be interchanged (not once it's assembled) so you can have the gas outlets on the front if you want. We had them put on the back and use remote flowmeters etc.
They will fit whatever shelf or mounting frame required to mount monitors, ventilators etc. so the whole thing is very flexible and can fit in with whatever bed layout you have. The ones we have can even be positioned so that both "sides" of the pendant can be put on the same side of the bed.

We looked at overhead fixed booms, but they're too inflexible and there's certainly an issue with small nurses reaching the sockets etc ! The wall mounted option was discounted because everything is then in the way when you need access to the patient's head in an arrest or other emergency.

You get what you pay for !

Try Medaes.

http://www.medaes.co.uk/view_details.asp?id=19

WE INSTALLED THE KREUZER SYSTEMS IN OUR EMERGENCY UNIT FOUR YEARS AGO. THE COMPANY, NOW TRUMPF MED SYS,CHRIS HOLMES, 01666841001, WHERE VERY HELPFUL AND WE WERE ABLE TO CUSOMISE TO SUIT OUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS. IE NUMBER OF MAINS AND GAS OUTLETS, SHELVING,POLES. THE ONLY PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN THE PLASTIC TABS BREAKING ON THE COLUMN ACCESS COVERS.

IF YOU WISH TO VISIT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME.
I WILL E-MAIL YOU A PICTURE OF OUR SET UP.

Thanks for all your responses (especially KM). I took the info to a meeting yesterday, and we will be having our next meeting next wed to discuss the issues you've enabled me to raise.
John.

One of the most important issues with pendants relates to the medical gas hoses installed in the arms. One manufacturer, who shall remain anonymous, has supplied over 100 pendants for a Scottish hospital refurbishment. The medical gas hoses cannot be removed from the pendant without cutting the gas specific connector off the end! These hoses should be changed every 5 years following a recent MHRA investigation and safety bulletin. Therefore, every 5 years a phamacist will have to be brought in to do cross-connection checks and the hose connectors will have to be crimped on site. I suggest that you get the supplier to put it in writing that their hoses can be removed with the need to cut off the non-interchangeable screw thread connectors. Also, some German suppliers use clear hoses, which are not colour coded as specified in BS EN 739.

The major manufacturers are all German, with the exception of ALM (French) I think. ALM are part of the Getinge group and supply Heraeus pendants into the UK market. MEDÆS are no longer part of Hill-Rom, but they do supply pendants with easy to remove hoses. Hill-Rom do not own Trumpf-Kreuzer.

Regarding specifications for pendants, all manufactuers can supply just about anything you want, and all prices are fairly similar. The service you get may vary a lot between suppliers, and you should satisfy yourself that the company has a large enough presence in the UK to provide you the service you need. Also, training for ITU and theatre staff should be included in the package. I would expect most pendant systems installed are never moved because the staff have not be been shown how flexible the pendants can be, in terms of creating customised environments for each individual patient and the equipment needed for them.

So long as you use a competent medical gas installer for the pendant system, minimum leak connectors are supplied to connect the pendant brake system to the medical/surgical air supply. This enables maintenance to be carried out on the brake system without having to shut off the medical or surgical air supply.

Ben.