Khalaf, A B; Hamam, Y; Alayli, Y and Djouani, K (2013) The effect of maintenance on the survival of medical equipment. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 11(2), pp. 142-157. ISSN 1726-0531
Abstract
Purpose: Studying the availability of medical equipment based on various maintenance types has been a major concern for hospitals. Most of the methodologies used are empirical and few are based on mathematical modelling. The objective of this paper is to present a mathematical maintenance model that analyses the effect of maintenance on the survival probability of medical equipment based on maintenance history and age of that equipment. Design/methodology/approach: A global model is proposed to measure the probability of equipment being available using real data extracted from maintenance history of infusion pumps and ventilators and analysed using Matlab. To confirm the validity of the developed model, the survival analysis approach is used to develop a model that measures the survival of equipment as a function of maintenance and age of equipment. The method is first tested using simulated data and the findings confirm the validity of the proposed approach. Findings: The analysis using survival approach reveals that conducting preventive maintenance (PM) on the selected medical equipment had an impact on survival of equipment. However, the manufacturer's recommended PM intervals do not correlate to the failure rate encountered. This will contribute to the debate on PM manufacturer's recommended intervals and might lead to the revision of maintenance strategies implemented by hospitals and clinical engineering (CE) practitioners. Research limitations/implications: Although the data collected for the infusion pumps were quite sufficient, that collected for the ventilators were more limited. The major difficulty is that of the availability of historical maintenance data and the effect of user errors may cause uncertainty in the analysis. A closer collaboration with the medical professional should facilitate the recording and access to such information. Practical implications: The use of mathematical modelling to analyse the effect of maintenance on the survival of medical equipment is a beneficial tool that is not exploited in the medical equipment industry. It will provide CE practitioners with scientific tool to analyse the effect of PM on the survival of medical equipment. Originality/value: This paper presents a mathematical approach to analyse the effect of maintenance on the survival of medical equipment, which is crucial in the assessment of maintenance strategies implemented in the medical equipment industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | maintenance; medical equipment; model; probability; survival |
| Index terms: | validity, survival, mathematical modelling, preventive maintenance, strategy, manufacturer, history, practitioner, collaboration, methodology |
| Subjects: | management, maintenance engineering, research methods, practitioner, evaluation and assessment methods, environmental science, analytical methods, architectural and construction history |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here