From the May 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

According to the rules, you may place these device types into an AEM program, but you must not lower patient safety and you must complete these PMs at a 100 percent rate all of the time. Nevertheless, do you want to assume the risk of deviating from the manufacturer’s procedure? In my opinion, high-risk medical devices should also be taboo equipment and high-risk medical devices should not be placed on an AEM program. Even with these exclusions, there are many device types that can be placed into an AEM program and these devices are normally found in large quantities such as vital signs monitors.

Maintaining your AEM program with CMMS
After you have determined which medical device types will be considered for your AEM program, you must develop a process to review the eligibility of the devices that you place into the program. For many HTM departments, the tool of choice will be their Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), so they can review the documented PM failures and failure rate of devices placed on the program. Also, they can begin to document a medical device history for those new equipment types that were added to the CMMS over the years.

More robust CMMS systems incorporate an AEM dashboard or tool that can automate the process for both determining device type eligibility and continued candidacy. In short, implementing an AEM program will require a continued assessment of the program to ensure that patient safety has not been jeopardized or equipment failure rate and downtime increased.

Which PM procedures are you going to use in your AEM program? We know that the manufacturer’s procedures are the gold standard, and they can easily be used for your task steps with a modified PM frequency. For instance, changing your vehicle’s oil every 6000 miles as opposed to every 3000 miles. In either case, you perform the same PM tasks, but augment the frequency at which the PM tasks are performed. Other organizations supply PM procedures (ECRI and ASHE), but they won’t authorize their procedures for AEM use. While this does not prevent you from using these alternative procedures for your PM program, you will need to document and be prepared to prove that your use of these alternative procedures did not reduce patient safety. Without question there is a managerial effort required to implement a successful AEM program.

The critical role of standardization
Data standardization in your CMMS is vital for a well-managed AEM program and for regulatory compliance in general. It is imperative that device types be standardized to ensure that the PM procedures, risk scores, and device recalls are used effectively. For example, if two similar device types are named differently in the CMMS, you will miss one or the other during comparison for equipment replacement or moving devices into an AEM program. Furthermore, your CMMS may contain specialized reports or dashboards that rely on data fields to stratify your equipment inventory.

May 2018 Magazine

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