© Copyright AAMI 2015. Single user license only. Copying, networking, and distribution prohibited.
Columns and Departments
OBSERVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
Are You Doing Shabby Work? Patrick K. Lynch
About the Author Patrick K. Lynch, CBET, CCE, is a biomedical support specialist at Global Medical Imaging in Charlotte, NC. E-mail: [email protected]
Is a lack of resources and staff stressing you out and making you do shabby work? Don’t be pushed into cutting corners.
136
Is your hospital administration unknowingly pushing you to do poor work? As a healthcare technology management (HTM) professional, what do you do when faced with more things to do than you can possibly get done? More repairs, more preventive maintenance, more meetings, more reports, more requests. You really have a couple of choices. You can do everything asked of you, but do them quicker and less thoroughly. Or you can do each task presented to you with the same quality and attention to detail as ever, and let some tasks remain undone. I believe that either of these choices is poor. The best alternative should be to do everything a little faster, but not to let yourself be cajoled into doing poor work
because you have a huge workload. Administration wants us to get all of the work done, even though they deprive us of needed staff and resources (such as training). And they expect the same high quality as when we were fully staffed. This cannot be accomplished. Something has got to give. Our main job is to repair medical equipment that is used to treat patients. Some of it is life-saving or life-sustaining. All of it can inflict serious injury or death if it malfunctions. Can we afford to let ourselves to be pushed into cutting corners and doing less than a perfect job on each and every repair that comes to us? I think you know the answer. But what constitutes a poorly done job? Most of us would say that as long as the actual repair was made in a safe, thoughtful, and conscientious manner, the job is of good quality. I disagree. The actual time when we touch a device or machine is undoubtedly the most important, in that affects patient care, but there are a myriad of other things that make up a complete and quality program. If you are doing nothing but fixing stuff, you have already moved into the role of a breakfix shop, adding little value beyond your ability to fix stuff. Hospitals can get most anybody to fix stuff. You need to identify those things that can make your operations a high-performing, quality, responsive, real value to your institution. A large part of running a complete program is all of the non-hands-on things we do. This
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology March/April 2015
© Copyright AAMI 2015. Single user license only. Copying, networking, and distribution prohibited.
Columns and Departments
includes regular rounds, where we meet with customers, nurses, and department heads. It includes attending necessary meetings to provide valuable input. It includes thorough incoming inspections. It includes a properly completed inventory. It includes actively overseeing vendors who are working in your hospital. It includes fully documenting every workorder and making sure that every equipment history record includes all work performed by everybody, including vendors and contracted outsiders. It includes the ability to generate reports to show our values and activities. It includes reports to inform department managers of their equipment costs, failures, and operator errors. As soon as we begin limiting ourselves to only turning a screwdriver, we are halfway out the door, because we have lost any competitive advantage we might have had over the many companies and other individuals who might want our jobs.
Don’t let the lack of resources and staff push you into doing a lesser job than you are capable of. Remember, administration’s job is to push you as hard as they can, but until stuff starts falling off the plate, they will just keep pressing harder. Press back! n
As soon as we begin limiting ourselves to only turning a screwdriver, we are halfway out the door, because we have lost any competitive advantage we might have had over the many companies and other individuals who might want our jobs.
The Healthcare Technology Management Collection A must-have for clinical engineering departments, this updated CD includes 23 of AAMI’s most popular HTM resources and is chock-full of detailed, practical, information written by, and for, engineers and technicians.
Healthcare Technology Management Collection
Includes HTM-related articles and troubleshooting tips, along with guidance on:
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation 4301 N. Fairfax Dr, Suite 301 Arlington, VA 22203-1633
4 The Joint Commission 4 IT 4 Troubleshooting Equipment 4 Benchmarking Salaries and Benefits
www.aami.org For more information or to order additional copies, call +1-877-249-8226 or +1-240-646-7031 Any use of materials contained in this product—including reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication—without the prior written consent of AAMI is strictly prohibited. Includes Adobe Acrobat® Reader. © 1987-2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
2014 Edition
Order code: HTMC List $710 / AAMI member $495
To order call 1-877-249-8226 or visit http://my.aami.org SOURCE CODE: PB
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology March/April 2015
137
Columns and Departments
OBSERVATIONS AND INSIGHTS
Are You Doing Shabby Work? Patrick K. Lynch
About the Author Patrick K. Lynch, CBET, CCE, is a biomedical support specialist at Global Medical Imaging in Charlotte, NC. E-mail: [email protected]
Is a lack of resources and staff stressing you out and making you do shabby work? Don’t be pushed into cutting corners.
136
Is your hospital administration unknowingly pushing you to do poor work? As a healthcare technology management (HTM) professional, what do you do when faced with more things to do than you can possibly get done? More repairs, more preventive maintenance, more meetings, more reports, more requests. You really have a couple of choices. You can do everything asked of you, but do them quicker and less thoroughly. Or you can do each task presented to you with the same quality and attention to detail as ever, and let some tasks remain undone. I believe that either of these choices is poor. The best alternative should be to do everything a little faster, but not to let yourself be cajoled into doing poor work
because you have a huge workload. Administration wants us to get all of the work done, even though they deprive us of needed staff and resources (such as training). And they expect the same high quality as when we were fully staffed. This cannot be accomplished. Something has got to give. Our main job is to repair medical equipment that is used to treat patients. Some of it is life-saving or life-sustaining. All of it can inflict serious injury or death if it malfunctions. Can we afford to let ourselves to be pushed into cutting corners and doing less than a perfect job on each and every repair that comes to us? I think you know the answer. But what constitutes a poorly done job? Most of us would say that as long as the actual repair was made in a safe, thoughtful, and conscientious manner, the job is of good quality. I disagree. The actual time when we touch a device or machine is undoubtedly the most important, in that affects patient care, but there are a myriad of other things that make up a complete and quality program. If you are doing nothing but fixing stuff, you have already moved into the role of a breakfix shop, adding little value beyond your ability to fix stuff. Hospitals can get most anybody to fix stuff. You need to identify those things that can make your operations a high-performing, quality, responsive, real value to your institution. A large part of running a complete program is all of the non-hands-on things we do. This
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology March/April 2015
© Copyright AAMI 2015. Single user license only. Copying, networking, and distribution prohibited.
Columns and Departments
includes regular rounds, where we meet with customers, nurses, and department heads. It includes attending necessary meetings to provide valuable input. It includes thorough incoming inspections. It includes a properly completed inventory. It includes actively overseeing vendors who are working in your hospital. It includes fully documenting every workorder and making sure that every equipment history record includes all work performed by everybody, including vendors and contracted outsiders. It includes the ability to generate reports to show our values and activities. It includes reports to inform department managers of their equipment costs, failures, and operator errors. As soon as we begin limiting ourselves to only turning a screwdriver, we are halfway out the door, because we have lost any competitive advantage we might have had over the many companies and other individuals who might want our jobs.
Don’t let the lack of resources and staff push you into doing a lesser job than you are capable of. Remember, administration’s job is to push you as hard as they can, but until stuff starts falling off the plate, they will just keep pressing harder. Press back! n
As soon as we begin limiting ourselves to only turning a screwdriver, we are halfway out the door, because we have lost any competitive advantage we might have had over the many companies and other individuals who might want our jobs.
The Healthcare Technology Management Collection A must-have for clinical engineering departments, this updated CD includes 23 of AAMI’s most popular HTM resources and is chock-full of detailed, practical, information written by, and for, engineers and technicians.
Healthcare Technology Management Collection
Includes HTM-related articles and troubleshooting tips, along with guidance on:
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation 4301 N. Fairfax Dr, Suite 301 Arlington, VA 22203-1633
4 The Joint Commission 4 IT 4 Troubleshooting Equipment 4 Benchmarking Salaries and Benefits
www.aami.org For more information or to order additional copies, call +1-877-249-8226 or +1-240-646-7031 Any use of materials contained in this product—including reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication—without the prior written consent of AAMI is strictly prohibited. Includes Adobe Acrobat® Reader. © 1987-2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
2014 Edition
Order code: HTMC List $710 / AAMI member $495
To order call 1-877-249-8226 or visit http://my.aami.org SOURCE CODE: PB
Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology March/April 2015
137
