When it comes to healthcare and equipment, you don’t want to leave anything to chance.
Broken or inadequate equipment can lead to inaccurate patient readings, which can, in turn, cause issues with patient care. Whether you are a head nurse on a ward, or you are a healthcare assistant, it is important to know how best to ensure quality and safety standards in all healthcare equipment.
So read on for a quick guide on how to ensure that every piece of equipment on your ward is working at its optimum level.
Labels
Equipment that is used on patients needs to be checked for functioning and one of the ways you can ensure that the best standards of care are adhered to is to purchase labels that can be placed on the equipment. These labels are designed to show when it was last calibrated or checked.
It is best to opt for a label that is professional and simple to read, such as a calibration label from seton.co.uk, or it can lead to broken equipment being used.
Training
You also need to ensure that all of the staff who work on your ward are trained in how to use the equipment, as well as being able to spot if there is an issue with it.
That way, any malfunctioning medical equipment can be taken out of commission and sent away for repair or will be replaced. It is worth making sure that the staff who use the equipment are regularly trained, especially if new pieces of tech are bought onto the ward.
Compliance
Looking into the quality aspect of medical equipment, it is vital to ensure that any equipment that is in a healthcare setting meets the compliance codes set down in the relevant codes. If this equipment is being used in the NHS, for example, it will need to meet the National Institute for Clinical Excellence or NICE guidelines. So, if you aren’t sure if that blood pressure cuff is up to scratch and in line with the current guidelines, you should check the quality standards.
Maintenance
You will need to proactively manage risks when it comes to equipment too, which can be done with routine maintenance on all pieces of medical equipment.
In some wards, this kind of maintenance is done as part of a weekly assessment, and, in others, it is performed daily. This maintenance needs to be undertaken by a trained member of staff and will need to be thorough to ensure that the quality of care for the patients you look after is upheld.
Quality Management System (QMS)
Lastly, there is the medical device quality management system, or QMS. This system was designed to oversee all aspects of medical equipment design, as well as manufacturing, risk management, storage, and so on.
Therefore, you and your medical team need to be able to understand and implement all areas of equipment’s QMS, to ensure that it is not being mishandled, stored in the wrong temperature or environments, and that it is not damaged. You will also need to ensure that it is labeled correctly.
