EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Datex Ohmeda TEC 5 Vaporisers

Does anyone here carry out any formal/regular testing in-house of these inside of the regular 3 year service exchange schedule?

Cheers..

Used to a long time ago, I would advise that you should be doing them along with the scheduled 6m pm.

I used to carry out the agent checks after calibrating the anaesthetic agent monitoring attached to the anaesthetic unit.

Spec sheet is here http://www.megamed.ch/pdf_files/Ohmeda_TEC_5.pdf

Check physical condition, Interlocks (Backbar, dial lock etc), and delivery % over a range of flow rates.

Any out of spec obviously need to be returned for refurbishment and exchange of wicks etc.

Hope this helps

Regards
Joe

Joe..
Datex Ohmeda say (and in their manual) NO checks are required for TEC 5's other than user awareness. All ours are used with calibrated gas analysers so their accuracy is checked every day and the mechanical parts are checked before use as part of the user checklist..

Anyone else got views on this?

Your ODP / Anaesthetists should be commended if you have the time and vigilance to check their equipment so thoroughly.

Carrying out a vaporiser check through its range is not something that a normal checklist would do. The Anaesthetists checklist 2004 although a good generic concept does not help those lets say less technically minded.

Often I find myself relaying to an end user that it would be good practice to carry out gas calibration on a regular basis rather than wait for a service visit.

If the user checklist is well documented however and specific to that machine I see no reason why they cant cross check.

Personal preference and a belts and braces approach for me would be that it leaves the workshop fully checked in all areas as part of a 'system' rather than the individual components.

The actual check takes only a couple of minutes.

Anyone else share their practice?

..you working late, Joe??

The Philips AGM's (11) are checked by us for calibration once a year along with our annual service of the anaesthetic machine. AGM's rarely ever need to be actually recalibrated, in 10 years, never seen one drift out of spec..

As these TEC 5 vaporisers are in use on these systems they are consequently being checked all the time without the need for a "special" medical physics check. Part of the user checklist is to ascertain that the vaporisers mechanisms are functioning correctly, this being done every day, negates the need for ourselves to do anything other than service exchange them every three years.

The official line from the MDA and GE/DATEX/Ohmeda is that you have no business trying to check a vaporiser's accuracy outwith of a controlled standards room, but if you must the best you could hope for would be +/- 20%!

Anyone else still feel the need??

Always working late, I find that I can do the 'icing' things in the evenings and concentrate on workload during the day.

-> The Philips AGM's (11) are checked by us for calibration once a year along with our annual service of the anaesthetic machine. AGM's rarely ever need to be actually recalibrated, in 10 years, never seen one drift out of spec..

Very fortunate, I has a less happy experience with an AGM. The users were not using cal gas to regularly re-cal the units, the 6 monthly service picked up that 100% o2 was registering 55%. Thankfully up to around 30% it was functioning correctly and after all if anything it would lead to over administration of oxygen (which can be lethal).

At that point the little button in my head clicked to ensure users buy regulators and tins of cal gas to use at their pleasure, and I would always be a good boy and check their vapourisers for them. Your right though, I think 20% was around the general rule.

Old habbits die hard.