EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Blood warmers

Yes, that's the line I would take. When I was "active", I used to reserve the right to PM anything and everything that was on "my patch" (regardless of ownership).

And (in cases like this) I wouldn't hesitate to open it up, if I thought that a quick repair was in order. Failing that, I would simply call "them" to come and take it away (and/or send a replacement). I've never been into "shipping" kit myself (although I see plenty of NHS biomeds wasting productive hours finding boxes, packing up kit etc.).

Meanwhile ... SPT? Some sort of weird Oz terminology, I wonder (OK, let me guess ... "Safety PAT Test")?

We have Loan Rangers (No not Lone Geoff, sorry, couldn't resist it) here and all are covered by an Indemnity Form.
They are responsible for the maintenance and an engineer visits annually and does them all. If they get a major fault, which is not caused by abuse, I just send it to them and they repair it for nothing.
If its something minor, like a plastic clip, they just send me a few and we do it here.

The Lone Ranger ... more like the Winged Avenger, I would have thought.

Meanwhile, I've never been overly impressed by the "Indemnity Form" approach ... that is:- "We don't know if it's ever been safety tested, calibrated, or whatever. But it's OK, it's covered by an Indemnity"! Oh, that's alright then.

And who gets to decide whether a fault was caused by "abuse" or (supposedly) "fair, wear and tear"? And ... what happens in clear cases of abuse (by the user)?

Ok, quick explanation to the previously used abreviations.......

PM, well, I hope you all know this one but it is different to the below. Preventative Maintenance; change batteries in pumps/kits in vents, anaesthetics machines, that kind of thing.

SPT, safety and performance testing, ie, electrical safety test with performance evaluation (flows, occlusions, nibp cal, you know the kind of thing).

So, before you ask, you can do an SPT without a PM but NEVER a PM without a SPT.

Very good. I have always liked the I/PM short-hand, myself (that comes - like so many good things - from ECRI, or course).

Also, as a well known pedante (and I wouldn't want to disappoint my fans, here) ... Preventative, or Preventive? Again, I have always preferred the latter myself.

And (like you,it seems) I tossed out the first P from PPM many years ago (on the grounds that it is superfluous - and I can't be having that). That is, if you have Planned maintenance, then you must (conversely) have Unplanned maintenance ... which leads to nonsense. However (having "been about a bit", as it were), I once came across a setup where the biomeds used the terminology PPM and UPM (which, actually, was quite a nice short-hand). Just as long as we know what we mean. It saves getting bogged down in a rigmarole of "Corrective Maintenance", "Unplanned Emergency Maintenance" ... and any of the other 57 Varieties!

Anyone else remember "Quarterly Checks"? The same deal, of course (but note, however, the 90 days ... the kit needed that kind of looking after back then) ... and yes, we still did "Rigel* checks" - but with an AVO, a Megger, and (if you were lucky) a Camsafe. Despite what some would have us believe, the Basics of Biomed haven't really changed that much. Patient safety remains at the heart of it (oh yes, yet another pun)!

* Other expensive medical electrical safety testers are available.

Now, I was going to have to ask you for explanation, I/PM? Is this some sort of wierd UK terminology? (oh, alright, inspection and PM........ I was almost tempted to get into some fun there but I will resist)

(disappoint your fans, no, never, it's unthinkable Geoff)

Just seeing if you had come across ECRI!

But of course, Ecri coding is the basis of the database system we use and the ECRI notices cause great fear and loathing amoungst the OEMs even in this far flung part of the globe

Not having heard of Ecri is like not having heard of Nelson, Thatcher, Botham, ..... shall I go on?

I think however, we might have got a wee bit of the matter of the post (blood warmers if I remember). Huw might get annoyed with us if we aren't careful here geoff !

Huw is always annoyed with me, Dave ... take that as a given. But I think that John may be a bit miffed that you missed him off your list!

Actually, I don't think we are that wide of the post. John was asking about Blood Warmers, and responses were made mentioning servicing being carried out by "parties unknown" ... and here we are reminding people about the basic need for vigilance with regard to electrical safety. Can't see much wrong in that.