Prioritizing Equipment for Replacement

Abstract

Determination of priority to replace medical devices is, in many instances, a subjective process. Today, many institutions are faced with a reduction in funding or revenue. In these scenarios, it is not unusual to see processes of contingency funding where all equipment requests are individual and based on merit. For departments that participate in this kind of process, a list accurately indicating the priority of replacement becomes invaluable. The resulting information should be easy to understand and navigate. By engaging the clinical engineering department and leveraging the data contained in the department’s equipment database, objective and defendable recommendations can be made. Elements of previously published criteria and known factors that affect equipment condition are presented based on a process conducted for the Perioperative Services program at Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ontario.