Care About Your Patients? Keep Your Medical Equipment Serviced

Managing a healthcare facility is a complex responsibility. Your decisions have a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of your patients. One of these decisions is the type of medical equipment services plan that you decide to follow.

Ideally it should be a plan — structured and organised proactively. There are a range of benefits to following this approach, all of which will result in improved patient safety and care.

Increased efficiency
All healthcare facilities strive to be efficient. There are many ways that this goal can be achieved — everything from having adequate numbers of staff to standardising practices. However, one of the biggest factors in healthcare efficiency is whether or not you have functional equipment at your disposal.

Equipment that is well maintained and has followed a regular servicing schedule will perform far better than that which has not. Increased equipment efficiency, therefore, has a direct impact on patient wait times, particularly for diagnostic and surgical devices.

Reduced operating costs
Running a healthcare facility is not a simple (nor inexpensive) task. Whether you are managing a hospital, aged care home, or clinic, it takes significant planning and financial knowledge to ensure that your facility is functional (if not profitable).

One of the ways in which you can cut costs (particularly in the long-term) is by following a regular equipment servicing plan. Medical equipment is like any other type of equipment in that it will break down from time to time. However, you can reduce the severity of these breakdowns by having a trained technician regularly clean and service the equipment. The technician will be able to pick up on any areas of concern before they impair equipment functionality, thereby reducing your overall operating costs.

Increased durability
Medical equipment can be quite expensive, particularly when it comes to capital products. This expense is part and parcel of running a healthcare facility. However, there are strategies you can use to reduce the frequency with which you have to purchase new devices.

One of these strategies is following a regular equipment service plan. Doing so is the simplest way that you can increase the durability of your devices, thereby reducing the likelihood that you will have to replace equipment before you have gotten value for your purchase.

Improved patient safety
Arguably, these above points pale in comparison to the responsibility healthcare providers have to ensure that their patients are kept safe.

Medical equipment that is not kept well maintained can pose considerable risk to the safety and wellbeing of patients. This can occur through malfunctioning or even an uncalibrated machine providing incorrect diagnostic results.

If patient safety is important to you, be sure that you fully understand the maintenance requirements of your equipment, and commit to a regular maintenance schedule.

When it comes time to purchase new equipment, be sure to opt for a supplier that understands your maintenance concerns. Ideally, your purchase should come with a maintenance plan that includes trained technicians who conduct repairs to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) standards. Medical equipment services should not be an afterthought, but rather a significant factor in your choice of equipment supplier.