Training

Defibrillators include many more patient parameters, modes of operation and innovative designs than ever before. Among these are temporary transcutaneous pacemakers, AED-like automatic assessment of arrhythmias, and algorithms and circuitry that ensure defibrillation-therapy-energy delivery based on the settings. Older test instruments may not be able to test these newer design capabilities.

Medical gas flow and pressure are produced by many more kinds of medical devices besides ventilators and anesthesia systems. While ventilators and anesthesia systems have specific requirements for complete quality assurance testing, the basics of flow, pressure, and time are fundamental. Endoscopic insufflators, tracheal and wound suctioning devices, side-stream-sampling gas concentration monitors, flow meters, vacuum pressure gauges, and more are in the inventory of every hospital, clinic, and doctor’s office.

Patient monitors were among the first electronic technologies to be brought into the hospital. Though patient monitor designs have dramatically improved reliability, the frequent failure of patient-connected sensors still makes it important to perform quality assurance testing. Innovative technologies that have improved NIBP-measurements during patient movement, and brought diagnosis formerly available only after clinical laboratory analysis of blood samples cannot be tested with older test instruments. Patient monitor testing is far from routine. The patient monitor testing courses introduce new concepts for patient monitor quality assurance (performance and safety testing, documenting for regulatory compliance, productivity improvement, and using test instruments effectively).

Diagnostic X-ray system quality assurance testing is done by radiographic engineers (who may report to biomedical engineering, radiology, health physics or medical physics department in hospitals or independent contractor companies). Safety and effectiveness for clinical use is determined by medical health physicists who may also serve as radiation safety officers. While physicists are generally well trained on testing tools needed for dose assessment and image quality, they leave the assurance of performance and safety of the X-ray systems to radiographic engineers. Both these groups are ultimately trying to reduce risk to the patient from detrimental, accumulative effects of exposure to ionizing radiation. Biomedical engineering departments are well advised to make sure that staffing, training, test instruments and other testing tools (including phantoms) are available before jumping into full maintenance responsibility for X-ray systems. An easier entry point is first-call troubleshooting, and so both first-call and full maintenance responsibility are included in the scope of training.