Survey on management of medical equipment and the role of the medical equipment safety manager over the last half-decade

Abstract

Half a decade has passed since the fifth revision of the medical law on April 1st, 2007. In this period, circumstances have changed regarding maintenance of medical equipments. We conducted a questionnaire survey to screen these changes and the current situation in the medical equipments management. The questionnaire was sent to 356 general hospitals with more than 300 beds in the Kanto region, and 159 responses were received (44.7%). The questionnaire asked information on the number of full-time clinical engineers (CEs) working on maintenance, the numbers of medical equipments maintained in each hospital, the occupation of the appointed medical equipment safety manager (MESM), the role of the MESM, and thoughts on the responsibilities of the MESM. Over the past five years, maintenance of medical equipments increased in 69% of the hospitals. The number of CEs increased in 30% of the hospitals and the average number of full-time CEs maintaining medical equipments was 2.9. The appointed MESM was a CE or physician in many hospitals. Operation managers were placed in each section in hospitals in which a physician was appointed as the MESM. Many answers pointed out that it was difficult for one person to cover all of the requirements to the MESM. This suggests that it is appropriate and useful for operation managers for medical equipments to work under the MESM.