Patient Safety: How important is equipment in the overall scheme of things?

Abstract

Is patient safety a Risk Management issue or does Biomedical Engineering/Clinical Engineering continue to have a role to play? It seems that the term Patient Safety has become very important. Clinical Engineering departments used to be recognized as great contributors to patient safety; however, it seems that when people speak about patient safety, they look to the Quality and Risk Management Department. Are we not playing an important role in this front? Do we have the resources (people, time, know-how, etc) needed to lead, investigate and follow up reported incidents where equipment is suspected to be involved?