EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management The future of ebme

Nice one cyberdog....

I think that is already happening. There has always been a lack of investment in medical equipment. I think most Hospitals do a lot of 'making do', as Geoff also pointed out.

Keeps us in a job, but in an ideal world - In the future... what should we have, what will we be doing, what needs to change... etc.

Some excellent points coming through,
RFID, On line diagnostics, Bar coded clinical applications, early retirement due to cheap chinese imports, paperless systems,lower level skills needed, different skills need (user training), Partnering with suppliers, make do.

What about maintenance free devices? Is it possible that most medical equipment could be maintenance free?

... dare I mention fewer and fewer British techs (in NHS hospitals), to be (and being) replaced by those from the EU and farther afield?


Can't really see how ... unless we're talking about bunging kit in the bin once it's been dropped (etc.).

What about managed equipment services?

Dread the day but is this the future?

Managed equipment services... Isn't that what an EBME dept does?
MES is a dying trend (If it ever was a trend). I can't see it being the future. (Maybe in pockets - X-ray, & some pathology stuff):)

When over heads etc give you labour costs of about £40 an hour and just raising an order costs £30 it is not cost effective to repair/PPM some equipment (TENS, sphygmomanometers etc).

If costs are driven down then other items could also come under this category.

I remember when pulse oximeter finger probes were over £360 pounds each (mind you the old Kontron ones lasted much longer than any of the current ones); now you can get probes for less than £100.

Lee

I think Quinny was reffering to PFI type MES departments.

And the PFI type MES are essentially doing the same job as the in-house EBME but under a different banner.

We had a couple of Ultrasound scanners in for evaluation the other week. One company stated that there was no annual service requirement for their scanner, only user QA tests. Their repair policy was that they would swap out faulty kit and guarantee next day delivery. they didn't mention whether or not the swap was permanent or a loaner. So a possible future for biomeds might be as van drivers!
Both scanners had remote intrrogation capabilities, i.e. could fault find/ service over the 'net. I think to keep in the game as it were we will need to be more IT savvy.

Difficult to blow the fluff etc. out of the power supplies over the net, though. And who does the "swapping" ... them, or you? Sounds like a horse's a*** to me!

As it is difficult to imagine the politicians ever allowing our beloved NHS to grind to a halt, surely (for the foreseeable future) for EBME it is bound to be "business as usual"?

But will the work increasingly be carried out by contractors? Well, I certainly hope so! I don't know about you guys, but I always find that a 37.5 hour (5-day, 9 to 5) working week is simply not enough (to get through all that needs to be done).

To my mind, if Trusts can't afford (or are unwilling to fund) the tech support of their kit, then they should "cut their cloth" accordingly and stop buying so much of it! Why should biomed always be the "poor relation"?

But for a lot more money!