EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance MicKinley BodGuard 575

I would be interested to get peoples feedback on the McKinley BodGuard 575. We have had some issues lately with the device and was wondering if it is an isolated problem or have other users also been having problems.

Hi Mike, we have a numer of 575's on site and have had no real issues with them. What issues in particular are you experiencing?

We have had a lot of issues with Bolus cords the material over the button going soft which resulted in the patient not being able to get a delivery when required. Even with the bolus cord being changed to a new type some users finds it hard to locate the active spot of the bolus button. The lock box was continually breaking with very little abuse this has being addressed by McKinley lately with the introduction of new hinges. We have now hit another problem with most of the units requiring there LCD’s to be changed.

Not had any reported problems on the bolus cable,but have recently had a problem with one LCD. If memory serves right, the problem is known to McK and they will replace them for free. I have just submiited that request to them, I will let you know how I get on........

I have had lengthy dealings with McKinley over their BodyGuard pumps. The LCD screens are an acknowledged problem and they will all be replaced FOC. Not had any problems with the bolus buttons now, but we did have cream handsets which users found hard to locate but we have had them upgraded to blue ones now so thats solved the problems

Hi all,

We had a major problem with the LCD's on both the 545 and 575 (the same pump really). This problem affected about 40% of our pumps. It was an apparent batch issue with those paticular LCD panel. They were replaced FOC (of course) and the issue is now resolved.

We have had the pumps for roughly 3 years now. I have noticed problems with the DC motor failing. In the last year had about 12 or so failing. This could be as a result of clinical staff dropping.

The bolus buttons have been revised twice since we have had the pumps.
- There was a hazard notice (i think) about the cable getting caught in the PCA lockbox and delivering unrquested bolus's due to the cable being shorted.
- So they had to make the cable thicker. At the same time they revised the shape and colour of the button itself.
- Then they decided to make the handset a cream colour (same colour as the sheets on the beds!). So patients could not see the handset as it blended in with the bedding.
- So then they changed the handset colour to blue with a cream button. Which is the current handset (there are two different types, coded and non-coded. coded means that the pump has to be configured and has an "intelligent" signal which cuts down on possible unrequested bolus's)
They fail quite alot now due to the soft button you mentioned. The worse case was when 10 failed in 1 week. When we sent them back we get a replacement pretty quick.

But the pumps themselves are pretty easy to use and McKinley as a pretty responsive company. I have had 1 amendment to the service manual already!

The clinical staff are happy with them. I train any incoming anaesthetists on these pumps and usually there are no gripes.

We have 545's dedicated to epidural use (without bolus cords).
We've seen a few units with LCD problems, along with broken lock boxes. More recently I've found some where the RTC only runs whilst the pump is turned on (i.e. set the date/time then turn the pump off for a while. When you re-start it the clock is at the time you left it at before).
This shows no outward symptoms on the pump at all, but I was a little concerned that this could cause problems with the dose limit function if the pump is turned off for any reason during an infusion.
Generally we see little of them in the workshop & the users seem to like them.