Maintenance Risk Assessment of Medical Equipment

John T. Collins, M.S., SASHE

Summary
Risk assessment of medical equipment is an integral part of the JCAHO’s “Management of the Environment of Care.” This requires the potential physical risks associated with the equipment’s use, function and incident history. This assessment cannot be anecdotal; it must be based on data. “A golden rule of insurance is that you do not underwrite a risk that cannot be quantified.”1 The advent of personal computers and the availability of computerized medical maintenance systems have made available a wealth of data applicable to quantifying risk assessment in medical maintenance programs.

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