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

Speaking more of power and AC lines... we had some power failures a few weeks back (four in one day). There were six patients on dialysis at the time. Our UPS (generator) sucks so, some machines power cycled and started clogging up. What if some patient ended up dying from a trombosis, who could be held responsible?

A standby diesel generator set is not a UPS.

How come those dialysis machines don't have their own (individual) UPS?

Who is responsible? How about the Engineer? Is that you?

If this was a one off incident then the patients should have been terminated by renal tech and told to come back later. I wonder why did they not do it. Or did you as a maintenance engineer not find out how long will it take the power to restore and so could not tell them to take necessary steps.

If it is a regular feature, it is the engineer's (your) responsibility to get the DG/UPS repaired and if required pressurise the management to invest for better equipment. You are not aware how awakening a technical / service report can be if it strongly recommends hazards.

I had an issue relating dialysis machine in a rural area as the quality of water from RO was not good enough. I mentioned in the report 'Any harm to the patient will not be our responsibility till we are satisfied that the RO is repaired and we have seen the lab reports.' Within a week the RO was replaced.

All dialysis machines I saw had atleast a battery backup to keep the blood pump running for minimum 45 mins. This time is sufficient to terminate the procedure.

Geoff, sorry but we just launched the biomed dept. and nobody in the hospital has much idea of anything. The hospital has been family-run and getting new equipment or tools is a battle every time(the x-ray machines were bought in 1990, second hand, 1978 manufacture date).
I'm struggling to get those UPSs, but patient safety is not in the administrator's list of priorities. Having a 2200 acre ranch is more important.

Ah yes, the joys of privately owned hospitals!

At least in the UK (where private healthcare is dwarfed by the government hospitals), we do have some Rules and Regulations that need to be followed.

Good Luck. If you think anyone on the forum can help you (with a shoulder to cry on, at least), don't be slow in mentioning it.

Maybe the privately owned hospital in question need to be educated that cost is not an excuse for short cutting safety. Surprised RO wasnt good enough, was the system regularly sanitised and filters replaced I wonder? Was it tested for conductivity?

What about the risk division can they advise? Usually the MHRA need to know and what happended to the nursing 15 minutes window for checking especially as this is a high risk procedure.
PAul