It is a busy month and you are on the last week with a heavy workload left of PMs (preventative maintenance) to perform and you receive a call from the NICU (neonate intensive care unit) about a broken radiant warmer. It is an urgent call because there have been many births and there are no spare radiant warmers available so this one must be fixed right away. Upon examining the warmer, you pop the back panel off to expose the circuitry and find that a Molex connector had come loose and was not delivering power from the power supply block to the mainboard of the unit. After firmly reseating the connection you replace the back panel and power the unit on to do a quick PM in order to verify that it is working properly and that it is safe for patient use. The unit passed all functional tests with flying colors, however, while performing the PM you notice that there was a slight flicker every few minutes on the display of the unit where the temperature and timer are shown. The NICU nurse who made the call sees that you have finished testing the unit and approaches you asking if the unit is fixed and ready to be put back into service to be used on a newborn infant.
- Read and Analyze the scenario.
- For your initial post, let us know what you would do in this situation.
- Would you sign off the incubator as ‘mission ready and capable’? (explain why or why not)
- In a dialog format (using your own words), let us how you would explain the situation to the NICU nurse.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
As a medical professor responsible for educating and evaluating medical college students, I understand the importance of maintaining medical equipment and ensuring the safety of patients. In the given scenario, there is a broken radiant warmer in the NICU that needs urgent repair to be used for a newborn infant. However, after fixing the Molex connector, there seems to be a slight flicker on the display. In this situation, it is crucial to make a decision that ensures patient safety and equipment reliability.
1. Analysis:
The given scenario involves a broken radiant warmer in the NICU, which is needed urgently for a newborn infant. As per the scenario, a Molex connector had come loose and was not delivering power from the power supply block to the mainboard of the unit. After fixing the connection, the unit passed all functional tests except for a slight flicker on the display during post-maintenance testing.
2. Solution:
a. In this situation, I would not sign off the incubator as ‘mission ready and capable’ without thoroughly checking and fixing the issue causing the flicker on the display. Even a slight issue in the equipment can pose a threat to the newborn infant’s safety, and therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the equipment functions perfectly.
b. In a dialog format, I would explain to the NICU nurse that the radiant warmer’s issue has been fixed, and it passed all the functional tests. However, I noticed a slight flicker on the display during post-maintenance testing. As a responsible medical professional, I cannot sign off the equipment as ‘mission ready and capable’ until the flicker issue is resolved. It can be a minor problem, but it is crucial to ensure the equipment’s reliability and the patient’s safety. We need to investigate the issue, and once it is resolved, I will be more than happy to sign off the equipment as fully operational.
