Improving Bed Repair Turn Around Time through Parts Management

Abstract

Hospital beds requiring service spend an average of 20 days in the biomedical engineering department at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) due to delays in receiving parts and limited part storage.  Analysis of the work orders was completed to determine what parts should be stored onsite to improve the turnaround time.  During analysis it was found that more discrete data should be captured in the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) work orders to provide better insight into part usage and delivery time.  This paper provides recommendations for improvements to CMMSs to ensure sufficient information for predictive analysis of parts usage can be collected.  These include discrete ‘received dates’ for purchase order line items, standardizing quantity data for multiunit item orders, and providing user prompts to record parts.  Measures which can be implemented in the interim to reduce the turnaround time of hospital beds are also discussed. These measures include completing storage space organization as well as holding work order reviews and stand-up meetings to provide updates on large equipment repairs.