Medical electronics reliability and safety

[james]

I think we’re largely in agreement here

The suggestion isn’t so much to start fixing ventilators or patient monitoring systems at community repair events, but rather to allow hospitals’ in-house electro-biomedical engineering teams (or 3rd-party specialists) access to the documentation, diagnostics and parts required to carry out repairs themselves.

@Roger

What could be a solution is to have some sort of system where specialist fixers are given such access. A specialist volunteer fixer would be peer assessed first to ensure they had correct and applicable repairs skills, for safe repair of such critical items. That means applicable practical experience, not necessarily paper qualifications.

This sounds pretty similar to the approach adopted by NHS England during the height of the pandemic in the UK. In March/April, they put out a call via RAENG for volunteer engineers to help maintain equipment under the supervision of in-house specialists:

Call-out for volunteer "Auxiliary Engineering Support" for NHS England by RAENG

Really encouraging. RAENG is looking for all kinds of volunteer technicians and engineers , to help with set-up, maintenance and repairs of medical equipment under the supervision of clinical engineers from NHS England. The form seems ok with people without formal qualifications and the person spec too. Volunteering posts: Manchester, Birmingham and London (to start) As you are aware, there are a number of new medical facilities being built at ExCel London - as well as two other Field Hospitals in Manchester and Birmingham - to treat patients with COVID-19. The NHS England staff alo…

^ This training and supervision process is something Dr Helen Meese covered in the webinar I mentioned above.