Medical Equipment Aging

It has been long assumed that medical equipment deteriorates gradually with time (also known as wear-out or aging) like industrial equipment or human beings. An analysis of approximately 342 000 pieces of medical equipment managed for 30+ years by a single service provider shows this hypothesis is not always true. Some equipment will exhibit aging, whereas others can be deployed until a catastrophic event occurs and replacement is preferable than repair considering costs, downtimes, and/or technical/clinical innovations. Such knowledge can help to determine the best maintenance strategy for each type or even brand/model of equipment, as well as to optimize replacement planning, instead of blindly following recommendations made by manufacturers and/or age-based replacements often suggested by consultants. The first of this series of 3 articles presents the aging impact on maintenance, whereas the second one analyzes the impact on equipment lifespan. The final article reviews the root causes of aging and presents a simple, intuitive aging model that can be used for both maintenance and replacement plannings without having to analyze individual equipment types or individual brands and models in a comprehensive manner.