EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management calibration procedure

hi good day to all. i am a biomed technician in a hospital, doing some calibration of our medical equipment, but i dont have all the manuals. my question is how can i find the accuracy of an equipment without a manual for example the Anesthesia Machine..tnx tnx tnx...

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There is a very large collection of on-line manuals available at Frank's . I'm sure you will find this to be a very useful site.

Dave

thank you very much! but is there any other way in finding the accuracy or the tolerance of the medical equipment to be calibrated?

Which type of equipment do you have in mind ... anaesthesia machines, or, err ... everything in the hospital?

And what stage are you at ... just starting out? And, how has the equipment been maintained up to this point?

What you are able to accomplish will depend to a large extent upon what resources you can muster. Not only manuals, but also test equipment (not to mention time available).

If you are short of sophisticated test equipment, there is nothing much wrong with going "back to basics" and build up your test gear (and your own expertise) as you go along.

Anaesthesia equipment? Try:-

1) Pressures (can be slighty "out" without any noticeable effect).
2) Flowrates (the flowmeters on the machine should already be accurate enough).
3) Leaks? Use soapy water and eliminate any leaks found (especially on the back-bar).
4) Vaporiser(s) - you will need the proper test instrument if you want to measure concentration of the anaesthetic agent(s); but you can at least check that the control barrel is not jammed ("stuck up")!
5) Hoses - check for deterioration (change if suspect).
6) Absorber - check for cleanliness, leaks and non-sticking of valves.
7) Ventilator - (depending upon type) do what you can with whatever test kit you have (even if that's just a stop-watch); but at least try to satisfy yourself that it is working as it should!

But in general:- check for good condition and zero leaks!

Meanwhile, do you have a list of the equipment you are supposed to be looking after? Taking an inventory (and assessing the condition of every piece of equipment) is as good a place as any to start.

rocketeer
You arent going to be able to do an awful lot of kit without the correct test equipment, just on anaesthetic machines alone.
How are you going to know hypoxic mixes / guards are working right and you have the correct FI02 to the patient. How are you going to know that the Peep displasyed on the gauge is right.
What folw are you getting out of the flush mechanism.
What levels does your lose of 02 alarm come in at and stop.
And when it all comes down to it you will need the manuals as each piece of kit will have diffrent allowable tolerances.
Flowmters, how do yiou know the corect bobbin / float is in the tube.
Even leaks, how are you going to quantify them, some machines allow a certain amount of leakage as they self compensate or are simply built to work with them.
Without correct test kit you are going to be making a lot of decisions not based on fact.
Of cause it all depends on what your employer/customer wants in terms of evidence that its working right. But I bet if the machine kills someone the end results are the same.

giod my spellins getting worst.
LOL

Even in the most basic of settings, wherever there's an anaesthesia machine in use there's likely to be a respirometer and a sphygmomanometer around somewhere.

Let's wait to hear more about the circumstances that the guy is working under until we start getting too "technical", Karl.

For all we know he could be looking at a Boyles Model "H"!

Which along with East Radcliffe vents lots of anaesthetists have as coffee tables i'm told.

What better way to preserve and honour fine machines!

thanks guys!!! it would really help me a lot