An Intoduction to Biomedical Equipment Technology
MRO’s and Medical Equipment Maintenance
Upon entering the biomedical equipment program, I did not have a clue as to what to expect from industry as a technician. Now, I have at least a basic understanding of what my work will consist of as a biomedical equipment technician and how industry uses and manages biomeds of all capabilities.
Any organization that deals with and treats patients does so through medical equipment that needs repair and maintenance to function properly. Maintenance Repair Organizations, or MRO’s, provide organizations, such as hospitals and medical practices, with the technical skill and expertise needed to insure that all medical equipment is meeting or exceeding the manufacturer’s specifications at all times. A few MRO categories are manufacture’s service shops, commercial, in-house, shared service, in-house contractor, part time shops, and single technician departments. The technical capabilities an MRO will offer are divided into three levels called organizational, intermediate, and depot.
The Organizational (O)-level is the most general and basic and will provide the least amount of technical skill. At this level it can be determined whether an operator error occurred or the equipment is actually faulty. Often the finding is an operator error and no fault exists. In this case the bio-med can document “could not duplicate error” in the log book so as to not lay all the blame directly on the operator. An (O)-level shop can perform module substitution to bring equipment online while the defective equipment is being repaired. Many (O)-level tasks are minor technical tasks that can be completed by nurses and paraprofessionals such as stylus battery replacement. Also they can serve as an inventory control point for management to monitor equipment that was referred to higher level shops and keep records that pertain to equipment maintenance histories. This level of capability is most often found in in-house MRO’s.
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Upon entering the biomedical equipment program, I did not have a clue as to what to expect from industry as a technician. Now, I have at least a basic understanding of what my work will consist of as a biomedical equipment technician and how industry uses and manages biomeds of all capabilities.
Any organization that deals with and treats patients does so through medical equipment that needs repair and maintenance to function properly. Maintenance Repair Organizations, or MRO’s, provide organizations, such as hospitals and medical practices, with the technical skill and expertise needed to insure that all medical equipment is meeting or exceeding the manufacturer’s specifications at all times. A few MRO categories are manufacture’s service shops, commercial, in-house, shared service, in-house contractor, part time shops, and single technician departments. The technical capabilities an MRO will offer are divided into three levels called organizational, intermediate, and depot.
The Organizational (O)-level is the most general and basic and will provide the least amount of technical skill. At this level it can be determined whether an operator error occurred or the equipment is actually faulty. Often the finding is an operator error and no fault exists. In this case the bio-med can document “could not duplicate error” in the log book so as to not lay all the blame directly on the operator. An (O)-level shop can perform module substitution to bring equipment online while the defective equipment is being repaired. Many (O)-level tasks are minor technical tasks that can be completed by nurses and paraprofessionals such as stylus battery replacement. Also they can serve as an inventory control point for management to monitor equipment that was referred to higher level shops and keep records that pertain to equipment maintenance histories. This level of capability is most often found in in-house MRO’s.
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