Best Practice for Medical Equipment Management

The Fennigkoh-Smith Equation (4 Apr 2013)

The basic Fennigkoh-Smith approach, in a variety of modifications, is widespread and in use today, to create a risk-based Planned Preventive Maintenance programme in Biomedical instrumentation. Fennigkoh-Smith approach is not completely satisfactory as it characterizes the risk associated with each type of medical device only according to its sensitivity to planned maintenance.


EM = F+R+MR 

where F is the function where it describes how the device is used, for example, life support like a ventilator or a defibrillator where it saves life.

 
R is the physical risk where it describes what kind of risk the patients would receive if the medical device malfunction, for example, a ventilator may stop ventilating and contribute to patient death, etc.

MR is the maintenance requirements and it specifies if the type of medical device requires extensive or minimal maintenance, for example, an intra-aortic balloon pump due to its nature of support/save life would require extensive maintenance of at least 2 times a year. 

For example: A defibrillator which is a critical life saving device requires frequent maintenance for failure prevention. 

EM (i.e, Equipment Management) is as follows:

            

                    EM = F + R + MR

                           = 10 + 5 + 5

                           = 20

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), recognized the importance of Feningkoh & Smith's method and eventually approved it as the standard in EC6.10 in 2004. Devices with an EM number equal or greater 12 are included in the Medical Equipment Management (MEM) Program. 

0 to 11 = O maintenance

12 to 16 = 12 monthly (annually) maintenance

17 to 20 = 6 monthly (bi-annually) maintenance