Medical equipment management

Healthcare Technology Management (sometimes referred to as clinical engineering, clinical engineering management, clinical technology management, healthcare technology management, medical equipment management, biomedical maintenance, biomedical equipment management, and biomedical engineering) is a term for the professionals who manage operations, analyze and improve utilization and safety, and support servicing healthcare technology. These healthcare technology managers are, much like other healthcare professionals referred to by various specialty or organizational hierarchy names.

Some of the titles of healthcare technology management professionals are biomed, biomedical equipment technician, biomedical engineering technician, biomedical engineer, BMET, biomedical equipment management, biomedical equipment services, imaging service engineer, imaging specialist, clinical engineer technician, clinical engineering equipment technician, field service engineer, field clinical engineer, clinical engineer, and medical equipment repair person. Regardless of the various titles, these professionals offer services within and outside of healthcare settings to enhance the safety, utilization, and performance on medical devices, applications, and systems.

They are a fundamental part of managing, maintaining, and/or designing medical devices, applications, and systems for use in various healthcare settings, from the home and the field to the doctor's office and the hospital.

HTM includes the business processes used in interaction and oversight of the technology involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients. The related policies and procedures govern activities such as the selection, planning, and acquisition of medical devices, and the inspection, acceptance, maintenance, and eventual retirement and disposal of medical equipment.

The healthcare technology management professional's purpose is to ensure that equipment and systems used in patient care are operational, safe, and properly configured to meet the mission of the healthcare; that the equipment is used in an effective way consistent with the highest standards of care by educating the healthcare provider, equipment user, and patient; that the equipment is designed to limit the potential for loss, harm, or damage to the patient, provider, visitor, and facilities through various means of analysis prior to and during acquisition, monitoring and foreseeing problems during the lifecycle of the equipment, and collaborating with the parties who manufacture, design, regulate, or recommend safe medical devices and systems.

Some but not all of the healthcare technology management professional's functions are:

Every medical treatment facility should have policies and processes on equipment control and asset management. Equipment control and asset management involves the management of medical devices within a facility and may be supported by automated information systems (e.g., enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are often found in U.S. hospitals, and the U.S. military health system uses an advanced automated system known as the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) suite of applications). Equipment control begins with the receipt of a newly acquired equipment item and continues through the item's entire life cycle. Newly acquired devices should be inspected by in-house or contracted biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), who will receive an established equipment control/asset number from the facilities equipment/property manager. This control number is used to track and record maintenance actions in their database. This is similar to creating a new chart for a new patient who will be seen at the medical facility. Once an equipment control number is established, the device is safety inspected and readied for delivery to clinical and treatment areas in the facility.

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