Why do Clinical Engineers manage medical equipment
Before answering this a brief detour: why is medical equipment needed? To support the carers looking after people, is a short answer. Medical equipment extends the abilities of the carers. 'Carers' because those who are doing the caring will include skilled professionals like doctors and nurses and untrained family and friends. 'People' because those who are cared for include the sick and injured as well as those who use medical equipment to enhance their lifestyle and comfort. So medical equipment is all about people.
Thus Clinical Engineers manage medical equipment to support the carers and those who use, benefit from medical equipment. Benefit the carers and the cared for. Benefit, an important word to come back to.
But Clinical Engineers do not simply passively manage the equipment. Mindful that the medical equipment is there to benefit the carers and those cared for, Clinical Engineers seek to ensure, by their management of the equipment, that the benefit derived will be as great as possible. Put another way, they will want to maximise the benefits that can be derived from managing these Assets.
Ah where have we heard about Asset Management? The International Standard, ISO55000, that is where, with its focus on managing assets for the benefit of the organization that uses them.
So Clinical Engineers manage the medical equipment to ensure that the carers and those cared for, and the healthcare organization, receives the most benefit from these important assets. This is an important theme of our book which provides guidance on how to achieve this systematically. The asset management will include the core work ensuring that the assets are effective, reliable and safe and the book discusses this through its description of Equipment Support Plans. But the work of the Clinical Engineer extends beyond this important foundation.
Clinical Engineer = Clinical + Engineer. By combining the two disciplines the Clinical Engineer with seek to maximise the benefits, and our book discusses the Advancing Care role of the Clinical Engineer. In doing so the book recommends that those managing the equipment seek to maximise the 'VALUE' derived from the Assets
VALUE = BENEFITS / COSTS
Yes, there will be costs, and a particular innovation may increase COSTS, but the Clinical Engineer will seek to ensure that any increase in COSTS associated with medical equipment is more than offset by increased BENEFITS.
The book is about principles, universal principles that apply whatever the nature of the healthcare organization. Thus it will be applicable to developed and developing healthcare nations and whether their funding model is state funded, private funded or a combination of the two.
Its approach of focusing on the people, ensuring improved personal and population health that is affordable and that adds VALUE, echoes the Triple Aim of the IHI
- By John Amoore
- 4th Jul 2017
- 0
- Book, Co-Operation
