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Whether Michael Blanchard is at work or not, his pager always interrupts his conversations like an overexcited exclamation mark. Blanchard is a medical equipment expert at Providence Everett Medical Center in Everett, Washington, and he cannot afford to ignore the alerts from his pager. Every alert from the pager means that there might be a patient on the brink of life and death whose device has encountered a problem. Providence Everett Medical Center is one of the leading hospitals for cardiac care in the Northwestern Pacific region of the United States. Blanchard and a team of 8 people traveled between several universities throughout western Washington to ensure the proper operation of advanced medical equipment. This is 24×7 work that cannot be interrupted, and it has its own set of troublesome characteristics. During a CAT scan, it is absolutely essential to prevent any interruptions in the equipment’s operation or the generation of incorrect results. “Medical equipment is becoming increasingly complex. ” Blanchard, who has been working as a biomedical technician for 25 years, said, “When I first started in this field, there were tubes everywhere.” At that time, transistors and integrated circuits had just been invented. ”Current devices are complex combinations of the latest biomedical technologies. Blanchard and his team are responsible for all the equipment that is \"against the wall\". If a system is located inside a wall, it is the responsibility of the Facilities Department. “If you can plug the device into power and use it on patients, then we will be responsible for that device. ” Blanchard said, “We are in charge of all such equipment.” Treadmills, CT scanners, MRI scanners, defibrillators. All the equipment is electronic; even the disinfectors, thermometers, and blood pressure cuff sleeves are electronic. ”Once the pager was turned off, Blanchard would not know whether there was a problem with the EKG device used to monitor patients after surgical care, or whether a technician was dealing with a malfunctioning digital thermometer. “All the equipment is on a downward trend,” he said with a smile. “By the time we’re notified, operating the equipment is usually already quite difficult.” ”Although the equipment is somewhat different and the consequences of malfunctions may be more severe, the basic principles remain the same as in all factories. “Electronic devices remain electronic devices,” he said. “It’s just that the way they are assembled here is different.” ”The way Blanchard handles fault notifications depends on many factors. If he has spare equipment, he will replace the faulty machine so that care can continue. “For example, if a mobile X-ray machine breaks down, we simply turn it off and send it to the factory for repair. This is a way of handling things that does not interfere with work. ”But there is no shortcut for conveyor belts. “We can’t modify the equipment,” he said. “That’s against the rules. ”For the components of some more sensitive and advanced machines, the cost of a single circuit board can be as high as $20,000. Replacing the detector in a CT scanner can cost 250,000 dollars. This means that hospitals cannot afford the cost of having fully stocked spare parts. The biomedical team works closely with equipment suppliers to ensure that components are provided as quickly as possible when needed, and relies on a solid foundation of equipment maintenance to keep each piece of equipment in optimal working condition. This is why maintenance work occupies a central position in hospital operations. You must do this when you cannot afford the consequences of equipment failure at critical moments in patient care. Blanchard and his department insisted on computerizing preventive maintenance procedures. “Basically, it’s clean. ”He said, “We ensure that every part of the equipment is as clean as possible.” Dust and heat are the archenemies of electronic devices. ”After regular maintenance, fault detection is carried out. “Hospitals are the same as other work environments. ” Blanchard said, “First, it’s necessary to make sure that all the equipment is plugged in.” If it still doesn’t work, check the fuse again. Check its power supply. If the hospital is under construction—hospitals are almost always under construction—it might be that a circuit breaker has tripped. You must conduct follow-up inspections. In fact, a good practice is to always check the power supply. If there is a problem with a circuit, in nine out of ten cases it is caused by the power supply. ”The power supply provided to hospitals should generally be pure, says Blanchard: “That’s usually the case when a new generator is used; you turn it on and then wait for notification.” Today’s devices are designed better and run more smoothly, so we have very few problems. ”Blanchard and his team rely on digital multimeters as the core tool for fault detection. If there is a problem that requires testing, he will likely immediately pull out his Fluke handheld ScopeMeter® oscilloscope. “If you need to observe the rise time and fall time, or if ringing occurs in the circuit, a Fluke oscilloscope is used for that. If the grounding is poor, you may sometimes observe distorted waveforms on the electrosurgical equipment. ”Not only that, Blanchard and his team will first use a basic oscilloscope. They will use sturdy, reliable measuring tools that have the functions they can rely on. “Every biomedical technician has an oscilloscope and current probe at their disposal to measure ground leakage current. ”He said, “Using a multimeter looks great, feels good, and is very reliable.” It emits a sound alert when measuring ohms, has various ranges available, and can measure impedance and capacitance... Multimeters have many functions, all of which we can make use of. ”As part of the maintenance procedure, GE Industrial staff come to the hospital once a year to calibrate all testing equipment. “We use oscilloscopes to calibrate other devices, so we must have proof documents showing that they have been calibrated. ” Blanchard said. Despite their high price, medical devices have a very short lifespan. “Due to the rapid advancement of technology, the lifespan of EKG machines will not be very long. ”He said. This means that the team does not have to always ensure that outdated equipment functions properly, as new technologies constantly challenge their methods of maintaining the equipment. At the same time, Blanchard and other members of the Providence Everett biomedical team will continue to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their core tasks: carrying out preventive maintenance diligently, responding quickly, and using testing equipment on which patients’ lives can be entrusted to detect faults.