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Biomedical subjects

M J Shaffer

Publications and source records attributed to M J Shaffer.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1977

Clinical engineering: an in-depth review of its economic potential.

Clinical Engineers are currently employed in hospitals to see that the more complex instrumentation is electrically safe and well maintained. Such an objective fails to capitalize on the economic advantages which can be derived from specialist management. This paper proposes that the objective be broadened to cover the application of engineering technology for lower cost-higher quality health care. The functions involved and the staff needed to attain this objective are analyzed, together with the modus operandi for selecting and integrating cost-effective equipment, designing practical maintenance programs, and training the staff to avoid equipment abuse. Details of recent equipment-oriented malpractice suits are reviewed to identify already proven vulnerable areas. The results achieved from this approach at a 450-bed University Hospital show an estimated reduction of from $144 to $59 for the average cost of a repair, and an overall 60 per cent cost saving in the handling of the biomedical electronic equipment.

Biomedical Engineering↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical engineering standards, obligations, and accountability.

The growing volume and complexity of biomedical equipment in hospitals are creating legal implications for the clinical engineer. Statutory regulations, court decisions on product liability, and the patient's right to privacy and confidentially affect daily operations. The doctrines of agency, negligence, strict liability, and breach of contract, plus the medical Device Amendments of 1976 to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals' 1976 standards, complicate the conventional clinical engineering functions. The need for the clinical engineer to be alert to his legal obligation is assessed.

Biomedical Engineering↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Manual record-keeping and statistical records for the operating room.

Surveys have shown that handwritten anesthesia and circulating records kept in hospital operating rooms may be inadequately maintained and analyzed. Online, fully automated data processing techniques have been applied to reduce the anesthesiologist's recordkeeping workload, but with limited receptivity. An off-line data processing system has been developed using handwritten records to provide both anesthesia and operating room utilization statistics. Evaluation of the system indicates that an online, semiautomated approach applied only to charting vital signs and recording utilization statistics is an appropriate one for future development.

Anesthesia↗