Too many breakdowns in the equipment and loss of its accessories. happens incardarelli hospital of Naples where, throughout the last year, there have been numerous reports of problems with the machinery of an “accidental nature”, or derived from “mismanagement and misuse by the operators”.
This is how the document sent to the services by the health management of the center writes in black and white, which, at the end of April, took stock of the “management and maintenance of the biomedical park”, supplied to the hospital, as states of the note. The monitoring of electrical appliance failures and loss of their accessories was carried out by Clinical Engineering Service de Cardarelli noting that “technical interventions, resulting from accidental breakdowns, have resulted in a global cost whose incidence is equal to approximately 34.83% of the value of the ordinary annual maintenance fee”.
In practice, the contractor company that is in charge of maintaining the biomedical park of the low and medium technology hospital does not contemplate the repair of accidental failures. Ordinary maintenance, therefore, does not concern “the improper and irregular use of the equipment and its accessories, the fall of the equipment, the infiltration of the equipment, the incorrect or inadequate sterilization or sanitization procedure”, reads the note that specifies that “an accidental breakdown is not contemplated in any maintenance contract”. For this reason, additional costs related to accidental breakdowns are borne by the hospital administration. The economic impact on the coffers of the public administration is not the only aspect highlighted by the document that underlines the “extension of the times for resolving faults.” In fact, for the repair of accidental damage, the Clinical Engineering service must “activate technical-administrative procedures for verification of reports, analysis of the adequacy of offers and subsequent approval,” the note continues. Necessary procedure that extends the repair times of the devices and obtaining their accessories such as cables and tests for defibrillators, cables with electrodes, temperature sensors.
With these premises, the sending of communications about equipment failures has the objective of “raising awareness among the health personnel who use and are in charge of managing the biomedical park”, explains the note that, however, ends with a possibility that has worried some toilets. . From reading the note, it can be deduced that “the correct management of electro-medical equipment” allows “avoiding the appearance of breakdowns derived from its incorrect use” and, therefore, avoiding the increase “in the cost already incurred for ordinary management and maintenance Of the same”.
However, among hospital operators, some point out that some of the equipment supplied may be considered outdated compared to more modern machinery, an issue that is not addressed in the note. However, what has alarmed a part of the trade union fabric within the company is the reference to thecost increase sustained in case of accidental breakdowns, “that are attributable to the affected health subject”. For now it is only a possibility, meanwhile, the note announces a meeting with health professionals “in the spirit of mere collaboration.”
