EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management How often to calibrate Test equipment?

How often should you send your test equipment eg safety tester, Fluke voltage meter, ECG simulator, Spo2 Sim for cal?

The traditional answer is:- annually.

For more ... see here (for example).

All test equipment, not only biomed test equipment should be calibrated annually. Standard Practice

Not sure I would agree. This is back to our old friend "risk" is it not and as this is discussed at length elsewhere on this forum I will refrain from banging on and on about the same stuff but..... (oh come now, you did not think I was going to go away that quickly did you?).

An example; at the company I work for we do the calibration, amongst many other things, of adult patient scales. This involves the use of "calibrated" weights of course, however, why oh why would you do an annual cal of a lump of metal? Unless someone has knocked a lump out of one then the weight is not going to have changed so, in this case, a quick visual inspection before use is quite enough. The actual cal check of the weight can quite reasonably be done every couple of years in fact, every five to my mind.

Risk my friends, risk

There was an earlier thread recently that discussed the whys and wherefores of calibration.

And there surely have been many, many "column inches" on the subject of "risk"!

We all know that it needs to be done intelligently.

But in this case Umish was specifically asking about biomed test kit.

BTW ... the "trick" with weighing scales is to fill plastic containers with so many litres of water (and then empty them out once you've finished). Half a dozen empty containers are so much easier to carry around than lumps of cast iron!

Dave, you don't think that during the year the scale gets a lot of wear and tear and parts can be worn down, tensions loosened etc.

I would regard that as PM, Neil. Which is just as important, of course.

But as usual, the (clinical) requirement for accuracy in weighing scales has been explored already on this forum.

Personally, I would use the word "check" (or, if you like, "test") in this context (standard adult weighing scales) rather than "calibrate". What is the permitted tolerance ... plus or minus a pair of socks?

To be pedantic, we can only calibrate in cases where we can also adjust (that is, to bring the item back within spec ... the permitted performance tolerance, whatever that may be). Otherwise it is simply a "check". Most adult weighing scales allow a bit of adjustment. But how many of us have bothered? But before Umish asks ... yes, I have done it, and yes, they can be brought back into spec ... but no, they are rarely sufficiently "out" anyway (in my experience).

Meanwhile ... perhaps we digress. Once again, I regard the opening post to this thread as a bit, shall we say, casual. So I (for one) shall not be spending any more time on it. After all, I have infusion pumps awaiting my attention (for, er, calibration that is).

Sorry Neil but of course. However in this case I was talking about the weights not the scales (oh no, I've just agreed with Geoff ).

and @ Geoff, bottles full of water? I'd grant you that this can be as accurate a method as any but how do you prove it to the auditors? Where's the proof (ie cal certs)?

The "proof" is in the Laws of Physics ... or (failing that) a couple of full containers on the guy's desk. Or, better yet, his lap!

On the other hand, bits of paper are two-a-penny. They can be readliy produced by any snotty-nosed twelve-year-old with access to a PC and a decent printer!

SHOCK; HORROR; PROBE; hold the front page !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geoff "recommends" creating fraudulent calibration certificates !!!!!!!!

Ok, ok, that's enough fun for a Sunday evening (Oz time)..... and of this rather "casual" question to which many (as GH has already said) column inches have already been dedicated.

Night all, Dave