Developing a System to Support Equipment Repair Versus Replacement Decision Making

Abstract

As part of the life cycle management of medical devices, the Clinical Engineering (CE) Program is responsible for assessing the status of failed medical devices and determining appropriate corrective action. However, when faced with a major equipment failure, there was no formal system in place to guide the process of deciding whether the device should be repaired or replaced. A literature review was conducted to search for established replacement policies and repair history analysis was done to learn more about the predominant failure patterns for sample fleets of medical devices. A process was developed to support CE in following a consistent, methodical approach to repair versus replacement decision making. This approach is intended to improve the confidence of decision makers and equipment owners, and provide adequate supporting evidence, when CE makes a recommendation to proceed with either a costly repair or equipment replacement.