EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Whats a Life?

How do you all decide on the average life expected of a medical device? Does anyone have a magic formula for working it out or do we have a gut feeling and say 5, 10 or 15yrs?

Also, (if your database has a field for it) how do you weigh up its condition?

We look at a working life of 7 to 10 years for electronic equipment.

I've worked at 5 different hospitals and the accepted Biomed equipment 'life' has been 7 years.
In reality tho' - it's 10-12 yrs

I vaguely remember reading somewhere (I think it was in a document from either the Dept of Health or NHS Supplies) that you had three options.
5 Years for small, hand held, battery equipment;
8 Years for the majority of equipment
12 Years for more substantial equipment like operating tables.
These are the figures we work to - although there is no official planned replacement programme and no allocated funds. We still have some equipment in use which is over 20 years old, but it's still going strong and since it doesn't break down, spares aren't an issue.
We record the purchase date in our inventory database and enter a projected replacement date. When the equipment is eventually scrapped and replaced, this date is then entered as the replacement date and the record marked as "SCRAP". We don't have any system for recording the condition of the equipment, but we write to the owners when we come accross a piece of kit which we think is falling apart !

How about a spell-checker on the web site ? I'm sure some of "apart" has two "P"s in it ! ? ! (Just too lazy to get my dictionary out!)

I was (still am) thinking of incorporating a spell checker - but the hack is rather time intensive.
If I get time......

Paul, I read today in an article from the Health Service Journal call 'Out of order'.
NHS guidance on capital equipment in the Capital Charges Manual (NHS Executive 1991,1993,1995) gives depreciation equipment life tables. The depreciation time represents when equipment should be replaced.
Radiotherapy equipment = 15 yrs
X-ray and imaging = 10 yrs
Patient connected equipment = 7 yrs
Computer systems = 5 yrs

Surely were not going to be guided by accountants ! ? !
It's bad enough having them running the hospitals !

Roy
At least it gives us some ammunition to use when we are fed up with repairing old equipment. In reality I've never worked at any Hospital where the equipment is replaced in a rolling program that works. If there is anyone out there that knows of a system that works (that the general managers would accept) please let me know.

Get a Life? I default to 20 years (which is actually a realistic period, in my vast (?) experience), but look at condemning once the accumulated amount spent on maintenance over the years exceeds the BER (beyond economic repair) figure (which I usually set at 60% of replacement cost). Hence the need for good record keeping!

Don't the professional bodies for Radiographer/Sonographers state that Ultrasound Equipment should not be use beyond 5 years as ultrasound technology moves on very quickly?