Inside Look

Abstract

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, located near Milwaukee, is a private, independent, not-for-profit center for pediatric healthcare. The only hospital in Wisconsin dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children, the facility provides inpatient care, including transport of critically ill or injured children and intensive care services. It includes more than 70 specialty outpatient clinics that care for the full range of pediatric healthcare needs.The facility, which treats thousands of children each year, was originally founded in 1894 by seven Milwaukee women who saw an urgent need to establish a hospital for children, especially those from poor immigrant families who had made Milwaukee their home.Today, Children's Hospital is recognized as a leader in bone marrow transplants, particularly between unrelated donors and recipients, and in the care of critically ill newborns.Recognizing the critical nature of inspecting the hospital's equipment in a timely fashion, Terry Hensler—clinical engineering manager at Children's Hospital—and his staff developed a proactive plan for staying ahead of inspection schedules. The plan is built upon the principles of planning ahead, prioritization, and teamwork with other departments.“We've developed close working relationships with the clinical staff, which has helped tremendously,” says Hensler. “If a ventilator that is coming due for preventive maintenance is in use and is expected to be in use for some time, you need to be able to communicate with the nurses and doctors to develop a solution that works for everyone involved.”That teamwork paid off recently when one of the facility's external pacemakers that was coming due for inspection went missing.“Small devices such as external pacemakers can be misplaced or stashed somewhere,” says Hensler. “So when that happened to us, particularly since it was a life support device, we sent out an e-mail, including a photo of the device, to the entire hospital staff. The device was located within a couple of days.”In addition to developing strong relationships with other departments, Hensler says that his department's unique way of charting upcoming preventive maintenance jobs has been successful as well.“A common practice in clinical engineering is to list on a chart the preventive maintenance jobs that are due to be done that month,” says Hensler. “But some months are heavier than others. So we developed a three-month ‘predictor’ list that outlines what's coming due over the next three months. We also mark certain items on the chart in bold or in red to denote priority. The chart prevents us from being surprised by a heavy month, and helps us to prioritize what is most urgent.”Other highlights of the department's inspection timeliness plan include: