News & Events

With a growing number of clinical systems, medical device integrations and evolving threats to security, management of network security vulnerabilities is more crucial than ever.

The FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 required the FDA to create a report to the Congress and public “on the continued quality, safety, and effectiveness of devices … with respect to servicing…” by May 15, 2018, including potential regulatory actions needed to ensure public safety related to device servicing.  An FDA representative will present the report and explain how it reached its decision on device servicing.

ECRI User Experience Survey Program-How to conduct surveys and successfully communicate the results. Since 2016, ECRI Institute has surveyed clinical users and HTM department staff regarding their experience with medical devices. In addition to the opinions of clinical users, ECRI collects maintenance and repair data for 15 device categories each year. We will describe the survey process, show our unique graphical method to present survey results and will share unexpected results related to specific medical technologies.

Several models have been proposed for determining the proper staffing levels at CE departments. Few of them, however, have been based on or tested with large amount of actual data. A study of data collected from hundreds of acute care hospitals has shown that it is difficult to use CE data to build reliable models due to inconsistency in data collection. On the other hand, good correlations of staffing with several hospital indicators were found, suggesting that it is possible to build an accurate, but not precise, model. Such a model can be used as a good starting point for a more detailed analysis of the differences that could reveal substantive causes and opportunities for major productivity improvements. In addition, it could help to justify staffing increase to senior management.

The Joint Commission (TJC) initiated in 2016 a project called REFRESH to streamline and consolidate the Elements of Performance (EP) embedded in its accreditation standards.  TJC’s new Director of Engineering will present the changes that will become effective in 2019 related to clinical engineering and answer questions from the audience.

Lifecycle management of imaging modalities proves to be a balancing act of life expectancy and expenditure of high dollars. Biomedical Engineering can be placed “between a rock and a hard place” when managing conversations with clinical users and finance about replacing these modalities. With Siemens Teamplay, though, Biomedical Engineering has the ability to look at utilization of imaging modalities that use a DICOM header to push images to PACS. This reporting application has the ability to look at dosage, modality workload and protocol used during exams. It is a vendor agnostic system that can access all imaging modalities. In this session, Siemens will present information about Teamplay and outline the added benefits of their technology.

Ambulatory Telehealth has been fairly well established in the medical space, but a growing need for inpatient telemedicine has been a recent trend. In certain locations, specifically rural communities, there are physician shortages, especially when it comes to physicians trained in critical care medicine or other subspecialties. Telemedicine expands the geographical reach of highly trained clinical specialists, getting the proper care to a larger demographic. The potential benefits of implementing an effective Tele ICU not only include providing increased access to physicians in rural areas but also elimination of unnecessary costs, and most importantly increased patient care by potentially reducing readmissions, mortality rate, and transfer rate. This session will review the technology involved when implementing a Tele ICU, the impact on bed side clinical staff, and the benefits to the patient.

When implementing and sustaining a medical equipment management program (MEMP), VISN 20 has utilized empirical statistical analysis and monogram word count frequency to determine PM intervals and annual evaluation of alternative equipment maintenance programs.

Acquiring new medical equipment requires continuous oversight of every medical device and its associated history contained within the inventory. When the equipment is ready for replacement, Property Management and Biomedical Engineering must coordinate meetings with the end users to field any concerns or acquisition suggestions that contribute to selecting additional or replacement equipment. The C-Suite requires a strong reason for spending money on equipment and potentially construction. With all of these factors, planned and unforeseen, the “balancing act” can be a daunting task that may yield dissatisfaction from the stakeholders. In this session, best practices for managing equipment planning and lifecycle analyses will be discussed.