overdose. Alert: steps should be taken to prevent hospital bed fires. Notice: a blood pressure monitor may not give accurate readings until a new software upgrade is installed. These and other such safety notices flood into the biomedical services departments of hospitals on a regular basis from sources including the FDA, ECRI, and manufacturers. How are departments supposed to sift through these often redundant notices to find those that are relevant to their facility, and ensure that appropriate steps are taken in response? The biomedical services department at John Muir Medical Center (JMMC) in Walnut Creek, CA, has developed a reliable software-based system to help them do exactly that. “These notices are distributed throughout the hospital, but we rarely get a call from the floor asking about a piece of equipment,” says Greg MacDonald, the biomedical specialist who developed the system. “We’re in charge of tracking equipment and it’s up to us to follow through.” MacDonald, who has been with JMMC for 22 years, is in charge of deciding which of the 20-plus notices he receives a week apply at their facility. He filters them by determining which notices are equipment related, whether his facility uses the equipment, what steps need to be taken, and closes the loop by ensuring that all items have been addressed. If his facility has the device in question, he logs the alert. The purchasing department at his hospital handles alerts on most disposable equipment separately. “It often gets confusing, and I have to query people on the floor about what equipment they’re using and ensure that they’re following up,” he says. MacDonald’s supervisor, John Robertson, says that having one person handle such alerts ensures consistency and reliability in the hospital’s responses. While the whole department works together to support the effort, it is MacDonald who manages the flow of paperwork. “In the past, it was a lot of paper to track and it was difficult to find something that you had done and determine which items were still open,” says MacDonald. The paper-based system relied on a hand written log. There was no formal follow up system, and it was difficult to find historical data on particular equipment. To help him close the loop on open items, he came up with the idea of automating the system.