How to Monitor Medical Equipment

Medical equipment is generally very expensive, and its loss can not only severely impact the profitability of a health care facility, but it can also cause interruptions to service provision and patient care. Especially when government funds have been used to purchase assets, it is vital that they be accounted for at all times. According to Southern Methodist University research on government grant procedures, it is a standard government contractual requirement that the location of grant-funded assets be accounted for, from acquisition to salvage. In a busy public setting such as a hospital, monitoring equipment can be challenging.

Instructions

• 1

  Develop a centralized inventory system. Make departmental managers responsible for accounting for the assets under their control. Hospital administrators should have completed extensive studies of inventory control and loss management during their education and training. Inventories should contain detailed information about all equipment, such as serial number, purchase price, date of acquisition, its location within the hospital, its state of repair, its depreciation and its salvage. Any equipment shared between departments and divisions should be allocated a home-base from which it is used.

• 2

  Allocate all assets with a unique serial number and label them with the number. Labels must be durable and able to withstand equipment sterilization and sanitizing processes. The labels may also bear a bar code to facilitate simplicity of recognition for audits and inventory inspections. Consider using electronic tags to assist in tracking inventory. High cost assets could even be equipped with GPS tracking systems to assist in locating it.

• 3

  Implement a signing-out protocol. For equipment that is commonly signed out to patients such as wheelchairs and crutches, ensure that there is a protocol in place to account for these temporary loans. It is not uncommon to see these types of items turn up for sale in thrift stores, due to the fact that they have not been returned to the hospital. If possible, implement a refundable deposit system, that will assist in offsetting the cost of losses, if items are not returned.

• 4

  Allocate a secure area in each department for the storage of expensive equipment. As public buildings, losses are to be expected. However, they can be minimized if there are convenient, secure locations for equipment.

• 5

  Develop a managerial inventory control protocol. This should address time lines for updating the perpetual inventory and periodic inventory audits. It is essential that inventory audits are carried out on a regular basis to monitor the rate of losses and identify areas of concern.

• 6

  Analyze equipment losses regularly to identify any obvious trends or patterns in losses. Closed circuit television monitoring may be necessary to try to identify causes of specific areas where losses are greatest.