Do You Need Help Fixing Medical Devices or Hospital Equipment?

Do You Need Help Fixing Medical Devices or Hospital Equipment? 

"People Helping People" Can Now Help Repair Medical Devices Remotely.

Did you know that much of the donated medical equipment to developing countries is unusable after a time? According to Scientific American, "Medical Equipment Donated to Developing Nations Usually Ends Up on the Junk Heap". 

The devices might very well arrive in good working condition, but after a while, the device breaks and no one is available to fix it. Many health clinics are lucky to have a healthcare professional, much less a biomedical equipment technician. So what happens? The devices form a scrapheap of dead hospital equipment. This is very frustrating to health care workers trying their best to heal the sick. 

This article is meant to inform you of the resources available right now to help you or others repair defective medical devices and keep these devices in good working order. 

1. First, check back with the agency that donated the equipment. They might have someone available to help you over the telephone or internet. Be sure to inform them of the exact problem with the device manufacturer and model number. Some agencies that donate equipment and might offer repair training are Engineering World Health, International Medical Equipment Collaborative, and Medical equipment partnerships programme. 

2. If the step above does not help, try other agencies that donate medical equipment, like those above. Even if they did not donate the device that is broken, they might be able to help you in some way 

3. Next, contact medical device repair organizations, such as MedWrench.com, the BMET Wiki, and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

4. Service, Maintenance, and User's manuals might help repair or at least better understand the equipment and/or problem. Some manuals are available at Frank's Hospital Workshop and the Biomedical Engineering Website by Reza Najafi. Some general medical device repair books are "Maintenance and repair of laboratory, diagnostic imaging, and hospital equipment", World Health Organization, 1994 and "Medical Instrumentation in the Developing World", by Robert Malkin, Engineering World Health, 2006.

5. Of course, it is best to have a trained, maybe certified, Biomedical Engineer/Technician to make the repairs, maintenance, and/or training. Many times, this is not possible, due to trained personnel limitations. In that event, perhaps someone on-site with some electronic or repair experience could assist, particularly with the remote assistance of someone more experienced. Maybe even the "village repair person" could help.

6. Mobile phones and other connectivity tools could enable a "Virtual Service Call". Even someone with limited repair knowledge could be guided via voice/text to perform maintenance and repair. Video Conferencing and/or Audio Teleconferencing with multiple resources, worldwide, could allow collaboration to achieve equipment repair, maintenance, and/or training.

7. In addition, the devices could be remotely and simultaneously on-site, be accessed, diagnosed, and possibly serviced, via USB or other connection means, as described in the report Medical Equipment Tele- and Condition-Based Maintenance with Enhanced Remote Diagnostic Access (RDA) and Computer Vision.

8. Lastly, Social Media could be used to announce of a need to help fix a specific device. Then, people with knowledge and/or experience could respond and help fix it remotely. You might even mention of an ongoing need for help to keep the equipment in good working order, even with remote assistance.

Takeaways: 

1.  We now have the technology available to facilitate medical device repair, maintenance, and/or training via a remote location.
2.  Medical Devices no longer need to be discarded just because no one can fix them on-site.
3.  The very basics of biomedical equipment repair can be taught remotely. In addition, those with limited repair experience can be guided from a remote location. 

For more information: 

1.  Medical Equipment Donated to Developing Nations Usually Ends Up on the Junk Heap - "Medical equipment donations enable hospitals in developing countries to get their hands on expensive and much-needed technology. However, there is a growing concern that those donations do more harm than good. Hallways and closets often become cluttered with unused or broken-down equipment for which locals lack parts or training in how to make repairs."
2.  Engineering World Health - "Provides students from around the world with the life-changing educational experience of repairing vital medical equipment in the world's most resource-poor communities. In collaboration with local partners in Asia, Africa, and Central America, creates locally sustainable training programs for biomedical engineering technicians (BMETs)."
3.  Frank's Hospital Workshop - "I hope that this website can be a little support to all biomedical technicians in developing countries. Here you find all the documents about biomedical technology I have collected, all the user and service manuals I have, all training courses that I have developed and have held."
4.  Biomedical Engineering Website by Reza Najafi - "This website is designed to assist Clinical / Biomedical Engineers to find manuals and information about Medical Equipment."
5.  International Medical Equipment Collaborative - "The IMEC Global Green Program™ is a medical surplus solution for hospitals and healthcare providers. It is a resource that enables hospitals and providers to make responsible use of medical surplus. IMEC Global Green Program participants have access to a dedicated IMEC representative and an on-demand surplus equipment pick up system. The result is a more effectively managed excess equipment process that is not only cost-effective and good for the environment, but also serves the needs of impoverished hospitals around the world. IMEC completes a thorough assessment of the impoverished hospital to ensure the equipment we distribute is suitable for the facility and will help advance the standard of care."
6.  MedWrench.com - "MedWrench.com is a resource and sharing network for users of medical equipment. You can get answers, find information and read what others think about the equipment they use. It is free to join and easy to keep informed."
7.  Medical equipment partnerships programme - "As part of the Health Partnerships Scheme (HPS), THET is running a medical equipment partnerships programme which funds five partnership projects between UK and low-income country partner institutions to improve the maintenance and management of medical equipment within developing country institutions."
8.  BMET Wiki - "Basically the people who repair medical equipment. This wiki is where Biomed's can exchange knowledge and provide education about our profession, including information about workshops, symposiums, vendors/OEMs, regulatory agencies/standards, tools, courses, associations, and more wiki stuff."
9.  Medical Equipment Tele- and Condition-Based Maintenance with Enhanced Remote Diagnostic Access (RDA) and Computer Vision - "The current medical equipment maintenance model is "on site and physical", rather than "remote and virtual". There is no comprehensive or standardized remote diagnostic access (RDA) capability for biomedical technicians to troubleshoot and resolve problems remotely and securely. Additionally, the current operations model is "reactive", rather than "proactive", in terms of early problem detection and prevention. The lack of visibility to the health of medical equipment and the need to be on site for problem resolution, coupled with frequent rotations and scarcity of medical equipment technicians, continue to cause considerable downtime of critical medical equipment densities and is detrimental to the health care support to our war fighters."
10.  Maintenance and repair of laboratory, diagnostic imaging, and hospital equipment, World Health Organization, 1994 - "A practical guide to the maintenance and repair of essential laboratory and hospital equipment. Intended for use in institutions that do not have specially trained technicians or engineers, the book responds to the situation, frequently seen in developing countries, where much of the equipment is imported and adequate information on maintenance and repair is rarely provided by suppliers. With these special needs in mind, the manual aims to help staff using specific types of equipment to understand basic principles of construction and operation, adopt good working practices, avoid common errors, perform routine maintenance, and spot the early signs of defects or deterioration. Advice on equipment repair concentrates on common causes of problems that can be solved without expertise in engineering."
11.  "Medical Instrumentation in the Developing World" - "How do you test a defibrillator without a defibrillation tester? How can you use a piece of chicken to test an electrosurgery unit? These are the types of questions that an engineer working in a developing world hospital asks every day. The proper test equipment isn't available, and the hospital has a desperate need. To answer these questions, EWH has published "Medical Instrumentation in the Developing World", written by Professor Bob Malkin. This book provides the kind of practical testing and repairing suggestions that engineers can use when in a poorly equipped hospital, far from a clinical engineering department. It is the only practical manual for equipment repair in the developing world currently available."

Disclaimer - This article is for information only and is not medical or legal advice.