Developing Assessment Tools, Medical Equipment Maintenance Management for the Hospital34Ts

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Effective maintenance management of medical equipment is one of the major issues for quality of care and cost-effectiveness especially in modern hospitals. This is essential for providing good health services and saving scarce resources. Aim: Considering the importance of the subject, the purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive assessment tools by extracting factors affecting the medical equipment maintenance management that covers all aspects related to hospitals. Materials and Methods: This is a qualitative and practical study. Data was collected through a comprehensive search in databases including OVID, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Embase, Science Direct and web of science without any time limitation until the October ۱۱ to ۱٤, ۲۰۱٥. Inclusion criteria were all studies related to medical equipment maintenance management and mentioned at least one factor that affecting this process. Then document reviews and semi structured interviews was conducted for data collection. Purposive and snowball sampling was used in this study. The participants included ۱٤ clinical engineers. Qualitative data were analyzed using a content analysis approach (inductive and deductive) to identify the underlying themes and sub-themes. Results: Factors influencing an effective and efficient medical equipment maintenance management system categorized in seven factors including: “resources”, “quality control”, “information bank”, “education”, “service”, “inspection and preventive maintenance”, and “design and implementation”. Conclusion: Developing of medical equipment maintenance management assessment tools provides a comprehensive framework for the proper implementation of accurate assessment of medical equipment maintenance. This tool can be used to improve the profitability of health facilities and the reliability of medical equipment. Also it is implicated in the decision-making in support of selection, purchase, repair and maintenance of medical equipment, especially for capital equipment managers and medical engineers in hospitals and also for assessment of this process.