EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management KPI - Key Performance Indicators

Geoff it's all well saying that one piece of equipment is more important than another but if your slothful and start producing repair times of two years or more you no longer become part of the solution and more of a problem. Obviously work has to be prioritied but sooner or later all repairs have to be completed in a timely fashion. Even the smallest of items can become urgent if the majority are no longer on the ward but instead stuck in the corner of your workshop!

It's not a good attitude to start saying so what the hospital has probably has more than enough, since before you know it, people start saying so what they probably have enought feed pumps, nebulisers, syringe drivers and half a dozen other items that never get repaired! If something was purchased in the first place it will probably be missed and if it's not it probably shouldn't have been purchased originally.

Don't worry, if I were in charge everything would be carried out in accordance with Good Order and Military Discipline. The only trouble is, I might (and here I quote) "upset the other staff" (you know, the ones who prefer taking things nice and easy, ticking off the days till retirement). I'm not taking about me ... I'm referring to the reality of the situation as witnessed in many NHS hospitals!

Doom on all sloths!

On your second point, many NHS set-ups (especially the Community organisations) appear to be awash with kit. So much so, in fact, that they don't seem to worry too much if it never gets returned. Am I wrong?

PS: casting my mind back, it's been 25 years since I was in any biomed role for anything like two years (that is, not long enough to become "part of the problem", as you put it). My "career" has been more like get in, sort out the bloody chaos, get everything properly organised (but upset everyone in the process ... you know, the sloths of this world ... and there are many), get "withdrawn" (booted out), go elsewhere ... and repeat! People (eg, surgeons) used to hide when they heard I was about. And quite rightly too, as I never stood for any of their supercilious nonsense. In fact, I'm not sure who is worse, the Sloth or the Baboon (I will need to give that one some thought).

I don't know where you've been working and frankly I don't think I want to, but it sounds like a daily check was needed to be performed for stetsons and spurs! Of all the hospitals we cover I've never seen equipment that's been sat on the hold shelf for more than a year or even 13 weeks. As for not worrying if their equipment ever gets returned, I haven't heard of that one either, one because we don't have equipment that long and two they seem happy when we deliver it back.

Would you like me to name places, name names ("name and shame")? No, perhaps not. But, rest assured, I'm talking about UK NHS hospitals within the last five years.

Anyway, what I've been trying to get is that, as Key Performance Indicators go, I suggest that PM performance is the most "key" of all, eclipsing all others, such as downtime, uptime, playtime, teatime or any other time. As I say, think PM!

But hark! 'Tis I that speaks ... the Great Geoff Hannis, winner of 50 million Riyal biomed maintenance contracts, leader of desert-conquering mobile maintenance teams, bringer of maintenance programmes where none before existed ... and connoisseur of (amongst other things) laundry rinse water recycling systems!

PS: when I said "... they don't seem to worry too much if it never gets returned", I had in mind kit "loaned out" into the so-called Community, not never seeing it back from the workshop.

Geoff, I DO mean regardless of availability - Any corrective job over 5 days is a stat buster. More than often these are as a result of external pressures.

I disagree with you about the suction pump scenario, if its broken it should be fixed and there should be no slackness on our part. We only make exceptions to the rule under two circumstances 1) If the repair is a 5 minute fix i.e NIBP cuffs, SPO2, user error and 2) If this is a piece of high risk clinical equipment in very short supply i.e. Vent, Defib.

PM - PM is also used as a statistic but not a KPI. We are always on top of the PPM i.e zero backlog therefore what is more important is the actual statistical numbers that we have performed that month rather than how many are outstanding (nil) or how behind we are (not).

Chris - Looking at the worse case if you have zero manpower you still have to keep repair time down to 5 days - YES. If necessary we would on a sliding scale drop some other factors of our work.

I think therefore for my department, turn around time is the perfect KPI.

We cannot improve our PM system as it is fully effective, however the procedures and controls in place brought on by ‘managing’ the 5 day turn-around have improved our KPI’s and made us progressively more aware of them.

I'm beginning to wish I hadn't mentioned that darned suction pump! Trust me, I wouldn't myself leave it languishing there. After I had taken a quick look at it (to see if spares needed to be ordered), it would simply join the queue (unless Nurse Diesel was bellowing for it)! I was just reminding that the work needs to be prioritized.

If you have zero PM backlog, then you are to be applauded. The best I have seen personally in an NHS setting was within 5% of the "moving target". The worst I have seen was "four years behind"!

On the other hand, some places just don't seem to bother with PM at all!

Of course (if I were being impish ), I would enquire how often you PM your kit. Once a year, for most items, more often for critical kit? Why not go for six-monthly?

Is everything included in the PM programme, or just certain items? Do you follow a "risk based" strategy, PM'ing according to perceived risk of failure? Also, do your figures confirm the promise of PM? ... that is, that preventive maintenance reduces random failures?

You won't sway me, Joe. PM is the key indicator! But we agree on one thing, Mate:- no slackness! No sloths in your department, I'll bet!

We PM Kit every year with the exception of the more critical/intensive equipments which are on a rolling 6 monthly schedule i.e. the vents, defibs, etc. With the manpower we have, 6 monthly just wouldn't fit well as it would mean that we would have to compromise other areas.

Everything is included on the PM programme with the exception of the tail chasers or really pointless i.e. the thermometers (we replace batteries and re-cal when they fail every 9 months anyway), the tens units and the CPAPS that are out in community (as these are brought back ad-hoc). I guess some could perceive that as risk based however I would condsider it more common sense.

I would say that during PM activities we find around 15% requiring what I would call "corrective action". Whether that be a re-case, a replacement battery or a recalibration. It does show that having a physical inspection of the equipment on a regular basis alongside your pm schedule is certainly going to help the clinical staff.

We have a good bunch of staff, we work hard and play hard and I hope it remains that way.

I think we are fairly fortunate to be in the position to have the resources to do things how we perceive they should be done.

Anyway back onto subject

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KPI's are beneficial if you are monitoring something that will aid as an improvement to your business/department.

It is pointless having a KPI for something that is beyond your control or remit.

Would be interested to hear of other KPI's in use as I'm sure there are some out there.

To us PM is a process where a procedure is carried out. It has a certain KPI to meet.


There are many things you can do, I believe, or else things stopped there perpetually.

I've been thinking a bit more about this one (yes, sad I know).

No doubt we all know (or think we know) what "downtime" is ... but - for the purposes of recording it on a database - how do we define it?

Off the top of my head, and in general, I would say it's something like the time (days, hours) elapsed between the Request for Service (user staff reporting a "fault", etc.) and the Return to Service. But, how are these two events recorded?

Others may suggest that it's simply the difference between Job opening and closing dates (times). And, in Joe's example, for repair jobs only (define? jobs needing [that required] a repair - define "repair" - it's never ending).

Myself, if we consider "downtime" to be the opposite of "availability", I would accept the Biomed's assertion about when the kit became "out of service" and then available for use again. I mention this as sometimes (as we all must have experienced at some stage), users - and contractors - may disagree!

When you stop to ponder stuff like this, various methods come to mind. As well as questions like:- do you consider PM as "downtime"? OK, PM should be a short period in the grand scheme of things (until, that is, a "snag" holds things up)!

OK guys ... how do you do it? The reason I'm asking is this:- if you wanted to follow a KPI similar to Joe's, then the first thing you'd need in your equation is "downtime" - or do we ignore downtime altogether and just home in on the word repaired! (as in:- "time taken to repair")

So how about response time? Again, we all know (or have an idea about) what it is ... but how is it measured (from when, to when) and where is it recorded?

Indeed, is it actually worth recording?