EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management Managing Med Device involved with patient injury?

Other ones often heard were "when was this machine last checked" (1)? and "how can I be sure this machine is working properly" (2)? And how about "funny, it's never done that before" (3). One more:- "Oh, so that's what that knob does" (4)!

1) Answer "when you, the user, checked it before you started to use it"!

2) This was the one when the EEG was giving straight lines (as it usually did with dead patients, oddly enough).

3) Meaning "I've always gotten away with that up till now".

4) Yes, tune for maximum smoke.

Rest in Peace, all the Sadly Departed.

The patient in scenario 2 must have been dead for a long time as EEG wave patterns can still be recorded up to 12 hours after the heart has stopped!!!!

I work with some people out here who have no wave patterns at all!

Define "long time"! In fact (if my memory serves me well, and it was ... yes, a long time ago) the patient was a car crash victim who had been on life support for quite a while.

My point was that the physician was really seeking a "second opinion" from me (the biomed tech) to support his "decision" to switch off the ventilator. In fact I had the distinct impression at the time that he would have been much happier if I had done that (that is, flicked the switch) as well!

Like many others (I should imagine) I have a number of "heroic" stories in similar vein (some of which are far worse, involving blood spurting out all over the place, and all the rest) ... but in actual fact (and unlike some techs I could name), I take no great pride in them. In fact I have always considered it a gross failing of "the system" when the maintenance man has been relied upon to jump in and *save the day (clinically), as it were.

* Better make that "attempt to"!

I turned off a vent once. Unfortunatley I had intended to turn off the monitor I was demo-ing in the ICU at the time and had pulled the wrong plug. It's the sort of thing you only do once (no harm done I'm glad to say). It did however teach me to physically follow the mains cable from the kit to the wall before deciding which plug to pull.

A lesson for young players me thinks

It happens all the time. Especially in places where the chaos (rat's nest ... whatever) of cabling around (and especially behind) patients beds has to be seen to be believed.

Not to mention, of course, the dreaded extension cables and adaptors!

Far worse, however, are mains connections of the "tripped over" and (then ... ) the "half hanging out" (or even intermittent) type, that are sometimes only noticed when it's ... er, too late!

Once again I applaud the biomed who makes his daily rounds with an eye to this sort of thing (mess).

And ... don't forget the famous cases of cleaners unplugging equipment to plug in their vacuum cleaners and polishers!

Meanwhile, I have often wondered why we can't have a secure mains connection of some kind for critical (life-support) equipment. After all (and once again) it's hardly rocket science, is it?

We run a simple system where we specifically fit red plugs to life support equipment and make sure they are not fitted to other items of equipment.

Lee

Well, that's a step in the right direction (and one that I've seen many times over the years) ... but it doesn't prevent the plug being yanked out the socket, unfortunately. Neither does it stop a switched outlet being ... er, switched!

And (whilst I'm on) I may as well mention, just one more time, the other old chestnut ... the so-called IEC mains cable*. Yet another European "good idea" that wasn't!

* The IEC C-13/C-14 combination.

What happened to the MK plug that had the earth prong altered so that it could not be removed, another misconceived idea gone down the tube?

Not misconceived ... but only found in operating theatres (and usually accompanied by mercury switches). But all that was to do with the elimination of sparks in volatile ("explosive") environments. And before the days of "IEC leads", so-called, as well, I might add.