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Any Biomedical Technicians here at SH? Medical Ventilator Maintenance question!

Vodoun daVinci

Old Salt
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Dec 17, 2017
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    I am an Audio Visual Technician (Field Service Specialist) and do a lot of work with Hospitals keeping high tech Video Conferencing and Audio stuff running and coordinate a lot with their Biomedical Techs and IT Techs. Simple question: How many hours does a Ventilator run before it has to have maintenance?

    One of the hospitals I recently visited was having a shit time as all of their ventilators are online 24/7 at this point and the technician coming from the factory (apparently Ventilators have to be serviced/maintained by factory techs) actually got Covid and getting another tech to perform maintenance is gonna take days now due to the Holiday and a shortage of Biomedical Techs in General.

    My question was "What happens if ya'll just continue to run it until a Tech can perform maintenance?" and the Chief of Biomedical Engineering literally turned white with fear. His point is that if they do that they are violating all kinds of medical protocol and will be caught (this stuff is closely monitored) and is a punishable offense. And if someone dies while on a Ventilator that did not get Maintenace apparently it's a criminal offense and leaves the Hospital and Techs open to being sued.

    How long can these things run between scheduled Maintenance and thanks for the information!

    VooDoo
     
    It’s like most things with a maintenance interval and lawyers attached to it.

    It will probably run for about 5x as long as the MI specifies.

    Or 50x. Or 500x. But the hospital will kill people taking them off the ventilators because it’s the only pathway that they can go down.

    This is the nation we have allowed to come into existence.
     
    Some parts probably just plain wear out and need to be replaced. Filters, sensors needed to be cleaned, adjusted.
    PMI is likely annual. For a hospital to have run their ventilators for a year and now need to service them sounds like they were over using them and waited until the last minute. WHEN THINGS SLOWED DOWN, maybe get prepared for THE RUSH?
    50 times the PMI would be 50 years. Not Fucking likely. If a family member of yours is put on a vent, check the cal/service date, say goodbye anyway as most die, serviced or not.
     
    So instead of running vents beyond their maintenance interval due to an unforeseen situation during a pandemic...what's their alternative, just not use vents at all?

    "That's some mighty fine harm reduction there, Lou"
     
    So instead of running vents beyond their maintenance interval due to an unforeseen situation during a pandemic...what's their alternative, just not use vents at all?

    "That's some mighty fine harm reduction there, Lou"
    Correct. Treat the patients correctly and you don’t need the vent at all.

    Monoclonal antibodies, ivm, hcq, zinc, vit c and D, and the vent sits the storage room
     
    I got the impression that PMI was done like an aircraft - so many hours and it needs rebuilt. But I didn't get the chance to ask....things were pretty tense.

    Voodoo
     
    It varies by ventilator manufacturer. Regular maintenance can be 10,000 hours, six months, or annually. Records a maintained by biomed or whoever is responsible for sercvice.
     
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    One manufacturer states 5000 hours or one year.
    Since they aren't often even operated correctly, what would a defective one really matter?
    I bet the hospital gets to charge more when a vent is used.

    Calibration and maintenance intervals, in more than hospital environments, usually POP UP when due.
    Out of date, send it to the lab, draw out another. Takes a little bit of planning to keep equipment (spares) running.
    Buy 20, put them all in service they will run out of date ALL AT THE SAME TIME. How did they get to a "few days" that matters?

    There may be a provision for a short term extension to the PMI if the manufacturer has statistical data showing the interval was conservative (which it should have been).

    Maybe a waiver, signed by next of kin?
    "We have this ventilator that is 3 days out of date but in order to use it on your relative, you will have to sign a waiver."
     
    Last edited:
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    One manufacturer states 5000 hours or one year.
    Since they aren't often even operated correctly, what would a defective one really matter?
    I bet the hospital gets to charge more when a vent is used.

    Calibration and maintenance intervals, in more than hospital environments, usually POP UP when due.
    Out of date, send it to the lab, draw out another. Takes a little bit of planning to keep equipment (spares) running.
    Buy 20, put them all in service they will run out of date ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
    The people in charge of keeping them running and in staying with Hospital Procedure will be sued shitless if someone dies while on a ventilator that is not supposed to be operating because it needs maintained. I took that as the stress point in this conversation...lots of these folks have been working some pretty long hours for getting on a couple years now and they are really stressed trying to dots I's and cross T's. I used to love working at Hospitals and being Service and Support. Now I'm dreading even going to them.

    I can imagine how the folks that work in the Hospital feel. They are quitting/burning out pretty quickly now.

    VooDoo
     
    Sorry for the tongue in cheek replies. I understand your concern but still feel there might have been a little lack of planning.
    When a patient really, really NEEDS a ventilator, it's likely TOO LATE for alternative treatments. The staff is fighting to keep the patient alive,
    MINUTE BY MINUTE
    Vitamin C is too little, too late.
    And clearing out the worms in the intestinal tract won't fix lungs that aren't working.
     
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    Having worked with a lot of these people for decades I'm having a hard time believing they dropped the ball. I think the Covid deal ramped up so fast this late in the season (hospitals here are literally overwhelmed) that they were all caught scrambling for people and equipment. In my AO they have gone from watching numbers fall so low we thought it was over to literally seeing the worst numbers we have seen since the start of this.

    People are dying in droves and being admitted when they are 3 sheets to the wind and the hospital staff are diminished, tired, depressed and simply worn out. I'm sure they'll solve the issue with the ventilators being maintained but if the numbers continue to go up (as predicted) people will be being triaged and set in the hallway until ventilators and rooms become available. Meanwhile, folks who need chemo or other "elective treatment" are being told to go home and wait a couple weeks.

    The Systems here are being overwhelmed right now. The peak is projected to be mid January. My curiosity stemmed from the offer to help with Biomedical stuff and being turned away because it costs like $7Kto $10K to get me certified to fill the vacant spots of Biomedical Technicians. And, of course, nobody wants to spend that kind of money on a 65 YO tech. They'd rather let folks die than give up the $.

    VooDoo