Maintenance is a crucial topic in the life cycle management of medical equipment. Evidence-based maintenance consists of continuous monitoring of equipment performance, starting from evidence—the current state from the point of view of fault history—and improving its efficiency through the necessary modifications. This process is very important for optimizing the use and allocation of the resources available by the clinical engineering departments. Maintenance of medical equipment consists of two basic activities: scheduled maintenance and corrective maintenance. The purpose of this chapter is to present document-based methods to evaluate every aspect of the medical equipment maintenance process and to provide a correct, objective and standardized approach that supports clinical engineering activities. Following the analysis, the results show that the combination of the use of the two methods provides an overview, in a periodic manner, of maintenance performance that indicates the use of the most appropriate procedures.
Part of the book: Operations Management
The Internet of Things (IoT) is currently rapidly being incorporated into many fields, but there are still some fields, such as healthcare, where IoT adoption is much slower. Medical IoT refers to a range of medical devices and people that rely on wireless communication to enable healthcare data exchange, remote monitoring, and patient rehabilitation for a better quality of life for the patient. Medical IoT can provide better medical care and rehabilitation services under the careful supervision of the physician, resulting in more cost-effective systems for hospitals as well as for the patient. Due to the regulatory, ethical, and technological challenges of biomedical hardware, the growth of medical IoT is still inhibited. The chapter provides an overview of the various technologies and protocols used for the Internet of Medical Things (IoT), with an overview of the current technologies, applications, and challenges.
Part of the book: Internet of Things
Today's modern hospital is highly dependent on different types of medical equipment to help diagnose, monitor, and treat patients. Medical equipment maintenance is important to reduce costs, reduce patient dissatisfaction, treat the patient in a timely manner, and reduce mortality and risks during patient care. Good maintenance management is important to have well-planned and implemented programs through which hospitals can minimize medical device failures or other problems with the operation of medical equipment. Medical equipment plays an important role in the hospital system; therefore, the acquisition, maintenance, and replacement of medical equipment are key factors in hospitals for the implementation of the health service. Thus, in order to ensure the quality of medical devices for the provision of medical care, it is imperative to evaluate the safety of using hospital maintenance management. In order to achieve these goals, hospitals must develop checklists that identify the state of performance of medical equipment maintenance. It is essential for clinical managers and engineers not only to increase the capacity of the hospital but also to predict the risks of sudden failure. Given the lack of unique and comprehensive maintenance management checklists, the current goal is to design and develop medical equipment maintenance management checklists.
Part of the book: Operations Management and Management Science
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that combines the real world with virtual elements, providing users with an enhanced interactive experience. AR has been used in a variety of fields, including medicine and bioengineering. In terms of training medical bioengineers, augmented reality can play a significant role in improving the learning process and understanding of human anatomy, medical procedures, and medical devices. Using AR technology, medical bioengineers can benefit from the following advantages in their training: three-dimensional visualization and interaction, medical procedure simulation, real-time guidance, collaboration and communication, medical device innovation and development. Using these technologies in the training of medical bioengineers, they can practice and become familiar with performing these procedures in a safe and controlled virtual environment. This can help increase confidence and practical skills before working in real life.
Part of the book: Applications of Augmented Reality