- Procurement and purchase of equipment
- Acceptance and commissioning of new equipment
- Record keeping and equipment registers
- Cleaning and decontamination of equipment
- Reporting and acting on patient safety incidents associated with equipment
- Training staff to use and manage equipment
- Storage of equipment
- Syringe pumps
- Plans to deal with electrical failure
- Standardisation
These policies require management and leadership from within the department and will require the department to engage with other equipment users, trust managers and the E.B.M.E. (Electro-Biomedical Engineering) department. This is most likely to happen if there is a consultant clearly identified as the lead for medical equipment.
Equipment standards in critical care will be similar to those in anaesthesia, the Association of Anaesthetists have produced guidance for the management of anaesthetic equipment and these have been referred to in writing these guidelines. Departments should have policies for equipment management and an identified consultant medical equipment lead who should work closely with the clinical director and nursing staff.
