Identifying Monitoring Parameters Using HFMEA Data in Primary Health Care Ubiquitous Technology Management

Abstract

AbstractThe infrastructure and the technology park in Primary Health Care (PHC) have become more complex and more required in recent years due to population growth. One of the managers’ concerns in healthcare establishments is the provision of quality health services and patient safety. Therefore, the actions of Clinical Engineering (CE) are essential support, especially with decentralized management models through Ubiquitous Health Technology Management and with the management and quality control tools that have been proved to be efficient in CE when assisting the management of the technology parks. This article presents the results of a study that used data obtained from the Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) to identify monitoring parameters in Ubiquitous Technology Management of a municipal health department PHC in the state of Santa Catarina. The CE team identified the dental air compressor as a priority, due to its importance in dental care based on data from the information system (IS) used in the technological park management. The HFMEA development team extracted the failure modes from 172 work orders in the IS. Five failures, representing more than 80% of the total, were chosen. Then, a system for remote monitoring was implemented in the Health Technology Ubiquitous Management model to remotely monitor the compressors and track their parameters indicated by the HFMEA. As a result, it was possible to perform scheduled maintenance in the intervals of patients’ appointments, without the need for cancellation, thereby reducing unscheduled stops, adding quality to the technological process, and increasing the reliability and safety of the health service system. This study should always be fed back with new indicators for the system to become even more robust, reliable, and updated.KeywordsClinical EngineeringPrimary Health CareUbiquitous managementDental air compressorQuality tool