EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Graseby MS16A & 26

I cannot believe what I am reading here. Dear oh dear.

Louis III

I'm going back a few years here - but I used to work in the computer industry where we assembled and tested circuit boards for big mainframe computers. We occasionally got boards back for repair which had been contaminated (usually with tea or coffee !) and which we cleaned and re-tested. Soap and water worked well and was perfectly safe as long as you dried the boards off thoroughly, preferably in a warm drying cabinet. We always then washed them in special cleaner which evaporated off completely - RS and Farnell sell similar products in spray cans.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with giving electronics a good wash and rinse as long as you observe some simple rules.
Disconnect ALL batteries and back-up power devices before washing.
DON'T wash boards with relays or other mechanical devices unless your absolutely sure they are fully sealed and there's no way water can get inside. Alternatively, you can remove these devices and replace them when you've finished.
Make sure everything is completely dry before re-assembling or replacing batteries etc. and use a proper PCB cleaning fluid as a final rinse.

Our Quality Control system never found any evidence that boards that had been washed had a shorter life expectancy or a worse reliability record than boards that hadn't. I suspect that the quality of the printed circuit board material and the packaging of the components is better now than it was 20 years ago, so there should be even less chance of causing problems.

We haven't had to take drastic action with many medical devices and some have been beyond saving anyway because the contaminating fluid has obviously been in the device for some time and has caused corrosion.

I agree with the comment about the MS26 - they are remarkably rugged devices and tolerate a lot of abuse !

I cannot believe some of the procedures people are suggesting. What we are discussing here is a piece of equipment which has the potential to seriously injure or kill a patient. We, as professionals should be trying to assess the risks to protect and minimise the risk to the public. By adopting the cavalier attitude that many of you seem to suggest I find quite deplorable from so called "professionals".

In the end it is the patient safety issue that is paramount.

What would the consequences be if a patient is injured or killed after carrying out the type of procedure as stated in some of the responses?

What would the judge say if after investigation and the company reveals that their policy in dealing with such a scenario is as stated previously ie replace the board or the pump and not to wash and dry the unit? I'm pretty damned sure that the ruling of the court would be, one of gross negligence on our part for taking such measures knowing full well what Graseby's position is. I think a massive litigation case would ensue followed by a massive award for damages against the NHS.

I still think in our position we should be advised by the company that the correct and safest course of action is not to repair but to replace the board or the complete device.

Thorough testing, to diagnose faults and for verification of correct operation after repair, is essential for the MS16 and MS26; particularly because they are simple devices that are still being used in a variety of clinical situations, some pretty high-risk. I have seen the effects of these devices failing due to them being dropped, being immersed and generally being abused, as well as user errors associated with rate/delivery calculations being applied incorrectly, user induced problems due to misreading of rate-labels and syringe contents syphoning (prior to manufacturers modifications) and slipping sryinge plunger actuators due to worn actuator-plunger threads.

Problems with the BCD rate-switches causing delivery rates to be incorrect are my biggest concern since I have found many faulty switches during testing over the years. I test each decade of tens and units using a timer/counter; have done for years. 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, etc, etc. Microswitches S1, S2 and S3 also start to play up after a while. Consider the effects that conductive or corrosive fluid has on these components, nevermind the PCB.

Graseby has made some efforts to ensure the device is as safe as it can be but it is an old product. The last thing that is needed is poor maintenance and test procedures to be applied to it. Ten minutes testing, listening to the device, timing motor operation with a stopwatch, is not good enough (you know who you are).

I have seen some pretty feeble attempts at repairing and verifying the function of these devices coming from technicians who treat the devices with contempt, since they are considered to be simple pieces of kit. If it gets wet then consider throwing it. Use non-acetic acid based sealant along top of case where syringe sits - leave drainage (do not seal) along base.

Louis could not agree more Joe. A couple of weeks ago there was a debate in one of the forums about members of this site giving un-professional banter. Louis agrees that non-Biomeds do frequent this site and the impressions they gain are important to us all.. But come on, God only knows what impression they find when they read through topics like this. Give me banter any day.

Try this little experiment gentlemen. Next time you take say a repaired syringe driver back to the user tell them you now believe the device is as good as new (usual waffle)then utter the words "Yeah we washed the electronics with me rugby shirt, came up really shiny it did". See what reaction you get. :p

Louis III

And yet here we are, almost six years later, and the venerable MS16A (and MS26) still continues to march on!

But I have really brought this thread back into play to illustrate how much more "lively" the forum was back then! And, I must admit, because I'm doing a bit of work on some MS16A's at the moment.

Can anyone morally still use the Graseby MS16 and MS24 (please note that the title is wrong!) when there are now safer and better syringe drivers on the market?

Well, there still seems to be a lot of them about, Kawa. Meanwhile, have we all decided yet about which one the replacement should be?

Unfortunately there are still a lot about, Geoff. I'm also sure that there are probably a few mis-uses of these devices still going on as well.
I would recommend the McKinley pump as a suitable replacement.

We are looking at the Micrel pump from Eden as a replacement.