Affiliations: [a] Department of BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical, Delft University of Technology, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft, The Netherlands | [b] Department of Design Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands | [c] Reinier de Graaf Groep, Department of Clinical Physics, Delft, The Netherlands | [d] Reinier de Graaf Groep, Department of Surgery, Delft, The Netherlands
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Annetje C.P. Guédon, Department of BioMechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical, Delft University of Technology, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 15 2782977; Fax: +31 15 2784717; E-mail: A.C.P.Guedon@tudelft.nl.
Abstract: Background:Since the increase of the number of technological aids in the operating room (OR), equipment-related incidents have come to be a common kind of adverse events. This underlines the importance of adequate equipment management to improve the safety in the OR. Objective:A system was developed to monitor the safety status (periodic maintenance and registered malfunctions) of OR devices and to facilitate the notification of malfunctions. The objective was to assess whether the system is suitable for use in an busy OR setting and to analyse its effect on the notification of malfunctions. Methods:The system checks automatically the safety status of OR devices through constant communication with the technical facility management system, informs the OR staff real-time and facilitates notification of malfunctions. The system was tested for a pilot period of six months in four ORs of a Dutch teaching hospital and 17 users were interviewed on the usability of the system. Results:The users provided positive feedback on the usability. For 86.6% of total time, the localisation of OR devices was accurate. 62 malfunctions of OR devices were reported, an increase of 12 notifications compared to the previous year. Conclusions:The safety status system was suitable for an OR complex, both from a usability and technical point of view, and an increase of reported malfunctions was observed. The system eases monitoring the safety status of equipment and is a promising tool to improve the safety related to OR devices.
