EBME Forums Forums Management Equipment Libraries The NEXT BLACKPOOL FORUM

Hi,
Interesting debate since I last posted. Seems to somewhat confirm some of my views. Anyway, we are going to London May 7th to talk about Patient Safety and Medical Devices. Has anyone any views that they wish to be raised? I was particularly thinking of poor design ie Signature heat sinks and the problem of cleaning after a feed pump and its contents have leaked all over it, given the longevity of some "bugs".And Geoff, please don't say that it's the nurses responsiblity to clean them first. It won't happen. We report every case to infection control, and they act on it on every occaision,
Dave L.
Dave L.
Apologies if I have posted this on the wrong "thread"!!!

Contractors charge by the hour, David. If you want to pay me for cleaning s***e off medical equipment, I'll gladly do it!

(who's responsibility would you say it is to clean equipment, by the way ... when you accidentally make a mess, do you just leave it there for someone else to clean up, then?)

And when you say that Infection Control "act in every case". What action do they actually take, pray tell (...send out a group email)?

Patient Safety and Medical Devices? Yes, here are few of points:-

1) Do clinical staff have a Duty of Care to ensure they are competent to use a piece of equipment before attempting to do so?

2) Do clinical staff have a obligation to report equipment faults through the prescribed channels?

3) Should every piece of equipment be assigned to a named member of staff?

4) In the hospital context, is there such a thing as "pride of ownership"?

5) Should procurement staff (in government hospitals) be held to account that they have spent taxpayers' money wisely?

6) Why have CSSD services been moved off site (hint:- well-designed hospitals have the CSSD adjacent to the operating theatres)?

Ref UHW post - As i dont work in the private or public world I was wondering is it not policy / practice that a piece of medical equipment that has to be worked on should have a free from contamination certificate? It is our policy that certificates should be given to the engineer when he comes to do the job.

DW - Nearly out from the Daftside.

Yes, Darth, that is the policy.

But what is the policy when (just imagine) the Declaration has been signed, but the equipment is still found to be contaminated? A gentle email?

Please remember the topic is 'NEXT BLACKPOOL FORUM'.

Any other discussion may be taken up in a different thread.

I am back from annual leave. Anyone who attended the original forum in Blackpool you will receive an email from me with details of the next one - anyone who hasnt heard from me, can you contact me as I have had problems with email addresses on joanne.lee@bfwhospitals.nhs.uk.

I am willing to speak to, share info and send details of future forums to people interested please do contact me via email or on 01253 303257.

I will not be posting further on here re the forum as its proven pointless in terms of keeping on topic, and is not helpful to interested parties.

Many thanks for the responses I have received so far and to EBME for their hospitality.

Any responses not directly related to this topic will be deleted.

Hi Geoff,
I don't find your latest post very helpful. I was thinking of rather more specific things!!
Darth's point is vey interesting. In the past, faulty, damaged or otherwise disabled equipment would be collected from a location for delivery ( usually for repair ) to a Clinical Engineering lab.accompanied by a decon note. However, with the advent of library services, collecting up to 100 items each day, the decon note soon disappeared. For us, it is now only used if an item of equipment has been contaminated. The libraries have become the cleaners, so speeding up the restocking process. Should equipment then need to be sent to the lab, there is a guarantee that the item has been cleaned. If an item is severely soiled, and has been placed for collection by nursing staff, we first ask the ward manager to arrange to have it cleaned. If this fails, we then deliver the equipment to Infection Control, complete an Incident Report ( together with photographs )and allow them to deal with it. Seems to work - and certainly cuts down on the cost on decontamination notice books. At the beginning of the library service here, we were completing a book a week, solely to tell the clineng lab that we had cleaned it. Since we all worked in the same department, this seemed unnecessary.
Regards,
Dave L.

Hi Jo,
I was sorry to see your last post. It was your enthusiasm that encouraged me to join in. My view is still very much that libraries must respond to the daily requirements of nursing staff - as I have said before, to be "organic" in response. We average nearly 5000 loan events per quarter, but this also gives us the opportunity to "network" with nursing staff about their requirements, which is extremely useful. At the end of the working day, libraries only exist to service nurse / patient needs,
Regards,
Dave L.

Hi UHW,
As I mentioned earler, from now on this thread will have to be heavily moderated.

No flippant comments, no criticisms of other posts, no deviation from the original topic will be allowed.