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David and Jahnke: Planning Medical Technology Management in a Hospital

equipment described on the RR form. During any specific medical technology evaluation program in the purchase
period, there may be multiple task forces, each focusing of medical equipment is threefold: (1) assuring that
on a specific equipment protocol. biomedical equipment facilitates the delivery of quality
The task force coordinator cooperates with the Ma- patient care, (2) assuring that the equipment purchased
terials Management Department in conducting a market meets the needs of all users, and (3) establishing hospital
survey, in obtaining equipment for evaluation purposes, standards for biomedical equipment. Medical technology
and in scheduling of vendor-provided demonstration and evaluation occurs in two phases. Phase 1 is in the submis-
in-service training. After establishment of a task force, sion of recommendations for the purchase of new equip-
the coordinator analyses the evaluation objectives and ment. Phase 2 is the technical and clinical evaluation. This
together with input from the task force devises appropri- allows the hospital to validate equipment specifications,
ate tests, and the associated evaluation feedback form. to obtain superior equipment at a competitive price and,
There are two stages to this phase: an engineering test to in turn, consistently improve the quality of patient care.
validate safety and performance issues, and a clinical trial The evaluation process addresses pertinent issues regard-
to evaluate user interface issues and efficacy. Only equip- ing the medical equipment safety, user friendliness, and
ment that has successfully passed engineering tests may equipment performance history. Based on satisfactory
proceed to a clinical trial. A clinical coordinator collects evaluation results and feedback from the technical and
and reports the summary of experiences gained during clinical staff, a recommendation is made to purchase a
the clinical trials to the task force. The committee coor- specific equipment item. Following these product evalua-
dinator then combines the results from the engineering tion steps facilitates the standardization of the equipment
tests and the clinical trials into a summary report and selection process and, therefore, the standardization of
prepares recommendations for MTEC approval. In this biomedical equipment. This will allow the hospital to
role, the coordinator serves as a multidisciplinary profes- obtain superior equipment at a competitive price and,
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sional, bridging the gap between the clinical, technical, in turn, provide consistent, high-quality patient care.
and administrative needs of the hospital. Upon completion of the review, a recommendation is
returned to the hospital’s Product Standards Committee,
The technology assessment process actually begins
which reviews the results of the technology evaluation,
as soon as a department or individual fills out a budget
determines whether the particular product is suitable as
request and then the RR form already mentioned. The
a hospital standard, and decides if it should be purchased.
form is submitted to the hospital’s Product Utilization
If approved, the request to purchase will be reviewed by
and Review Committee, which determines if a previously
the Capital Planning Committee (CPC) to determine if
established standard for this equipment already exists.
the required expenditure meets with available financial
On the RR form, the originator delineates the rationale
resources of the institution, and if or when it may be
for acquiring the medical device. For example, how the
feasible to make the purchase. To ensure coordination of
item will improve patient care, generate cost savings,
the technology evaluation program, the Chairman of the
support the quality of service or improve ease of use, and
MTEC also serves as a permanent member of the hospital’s
who will be the primary user.
CPC. In this way, technology evaluation is integrated with
The form is sent to the MTEC if the item requested is not
and impact budget decisions.
currently used by the hospital, or if it does not conform to
previously adopted hospital standards. The committee has
THe Role of A ClInICAl engIneeR
the authority to recommend either acceptance or rejec-
Advances in technology accelerated multidisciplinary
tion of any request based on a consensus of its members.
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approaches to healthcare management. Clinical engi-
If the request is approved by the MTEC, then the re-
neering, a profession based on both engineering and the
quested technology or equipment will be evaluated using
life sciences, developed in response. The recently created
technical and performance standards. The role of the
American College of Clinical Engineering provides a better

29 J Global Clinical Engineering Special Issue 1: 23-32; 2018