EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Endoscope

Hye my friend, Its me again.

I want to share my experience in handling the Endoscopy Department. For the last two month, I faced two Gastroscope that reported leaks. This leaks is because of user mishandling. Eventhough it still under warranty but this cause of problems was not covered. So the hospital have to bear the cost. The repair cost is too expensive.

How to avoid this problems? or are you all same experienced with me and how you all handle it...

thanks

Well, there's the root of your problem right there!

That is, what's the point in purchasing "high tech" equipment if you don't follow through with getting the user(s) trained up to a matching standard?

Is this problems happened in your site, Geoff? Dr asked me to make a report of this matters... huaaaa

Mammad,

1. Get a written response from your supplier why they do not want to honor the equipment warranty.

2. Investigated / check if the reasons given by the supplier holds merit. Write down the results of your observations / validations . From your thorough check, you should be able to arrive at a conclusion supported by technical / scientific data. This should enable you to make meaningful recommendations.

3. Attach the supplier's report to your report and submit to your doctor.

4. Start praying and in the meantime, update / polish your resume.





(the last advise was a joke - )

Mammad ... you haven't mentioned the capabilities of the staff using the endoscope(s).

Reporting to the Doctor will achieve nothing. Indeed, can we be sure that it's not him who is misusing the kit?

My guess is that funds are needed to train staff, and this has been largely ignored up to this point. Am I right?

Lastly, let me (once again) recall the Arabic saying (translated here as):-

"Repetition trains the donkey"!

Not only "my site", or yours, Mammad ... but all sites everywhere. We've all seen it a thousand times. "They" get excited and find funding for "must have" equipment, then fail to follow through with staff training, provision for care and maintenance, service contracts ... and all the rest. It's the story of my life (and not only mine, I greatly suspect). And one of the reasons that I'm happy to report that I don't have a "site" anymore.

Mammad,
Make sure that everytime you have an issue with the endoscopes you log it as a clinical incident.
Have you checked the air pump in the processor as it could possibly be this and not the endoscope?
Unusual for the manufacturer not to honour the warranty has it suffered physical damage is the outer sheath of the scope punctured?
Suzuki

Have you ever read a warranty that covers abuse by the (mis)user?

By all means (get the staff to) keep a log, recording condition of the 'scopes and all the rest. But damage caused by misuse or neglect (if, indeed, this is the case here) is hardly a "clinical incident" is it? Although we're all very aware, of course, that this ploy is often used in hospitals to CYA of the staff! In other words, as a smoke screen to deflect attention from the real "issue" (meaning, problem), which (more often than not) is "poor" handling of the 'scope during procedures, and afterwards (more likely) during decontamination. Solution:- see my earlier post.

Have the Dr's used teeth guards to stop the patients biting through the Gastroscope?

Mammad,
Please be more specific has the endoscope any obvious damage,i.e crush damage if not have you performed a leakage test to verify it is the scope leaking.
Suzuki

The problems actually is the scope was leaking due to small cut on the bending rubber. The supplier reported that maybe this happened by sharp object. But the problems now is, how I want to justified it. The end user will not admit their fault. huaaa