Dear All,
First of all, I would like to thank
all those people who helped me a lot regarding the standards for the licensing of the private hospitals in Tirana.
One of the biggest problems we have now is the increasing cost of the maintenance of the big equipments. Because we don‘t have yet directives [...]
Mike,
In addition to the project by Northwestern Students that Mladen referred to,
you’d also want to check out the designs by Rice students, MIT students, Design that Matters and Van Hemel.
I believe these have all been tried in the developing world.
There are also designs by Duke Students and Rutgers Students and several others
[...]
Dear Mike&All
I would say that I am looking for the day on which engineers will be able to give more comfort to babies? than now.
From my point of view of the incubator should be able to give, in addition to heat, the humidity control. Not only engineers but also the doctors and nurses need to [...]
Dear Mike/All
This is a great case study for healthcare technology innovation for under-resourced environments. There seem to be many threads for discussion: needs assessment, spares (availability and affordability), technical support, etc, – many of which no doubt have been identified and
discussed in various fora - but I would like to respond with an ’appropriate’ anecdote.
We have a partnership [...]
To all,
A former co-worker of mine at the ECRI Institute, Jeff Heyman, is now at MIT working towards an MBA and MS in Engineering Systems. He’s currently in a product design class and working with a nonprofit
to design a low-cost infant CPAP for use in developing countries. Given your experiences with medical [...]
Dear all,
From a Health Technology Assessment perspective, the challenge is to detain relevant knowledge on safety and to be able to use this knowledge in coherent decision-making processes.
Regulation, when present, provides knowledge on safety under more or less theoretical conditions. Safety under real world conditions is a much greater challenge.
Real world conditions include all the different [...]
I wholeheartedly concur with Ismael and Ilir. In order to introduce new technologies in developing countries and ensure that they will be used appropriately, last their scheduled lifetime, and ultimately improve
health care delivery, a system of equipment management must be in place.
This includes a large number of players including governmental/regulatory
bodies (that most [...]
Hi Kevin,
Binseng sent you a great list of publications on the matter. However if you are still looking for
personal opinions/experiences then here are mine, focusing solely on vendors:
1. I see two main challenges:
1.1 Scarce and deficient manufacturer support in developing countries. In many
cases manufacturers tend to [...]
Kevin,
Great question. In my opinion, if you have to pick on challenge, it is
the lack of an appropriate, single regulatory body.
If the FDA or CE mark are used, in some cases, the regulatory barrier
(in $) is larger than the entire market, leaving only dual use and
subsidized introductions.
As for [...]
Hello Kevin/others,
Good open ended question… Here is my 2 cents on this.
1) What do you see as the challenges (you can give an example) of
introducing new health technologies in the developing world
environment safely?
I will touch up on a couple of issues,
a. Power issues. The power is always an issue in most developing
[...]
While I have my own opinion and thoughts I would value others insights on
two questions:
1) What do you see as the challanges (you can give an example) of
introducing new health technologies in the developing world environment
safely?
2) What process would you recommend if new technologies are introduced to
ensure efficient use and safety?
Does [...]
Dear Aldo / Colleagues
I recall the strategy that Bob Morris adopted when he came into a similar situation. He / his department spent almost a year focusing on gathering data on costs, frequency and severity of breakdowns, and
other indicators/parameters associated with equipment that was being covered by service contracts. He was then able to negotiate much better ‘deals’ [...]
Hello,
I need to locate an expert who can provide training as a volunteer for a medical training program in Trujillo, Peru in late February. This person should speak some Spanish, be comfortable with hands-on training a group of nurses, and be familiar with cleaning, sharpening, straightening, lubricating and sterilizing surgical stainless steel instruments, with [...]
Dear Ronald,
Please let me know if the following discussion and specifications help you
A medical device with “acceptable quality” is not a subjective decision but
it must conform with international standards. For surgical instruments,
they must conform with product standards and quality management standards.
ISO TC170 is responsible for product standards for surgical instruments
(currently there are 6 standards):
<http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnu
mber=13745> [...]
Thank you all so far.
For the case someone is interested and not aware of, I enclose a manual for
maintenance and care for all kind of instruments – not only micro-surgical –
with which we are working since long-time.
Of course you are right that the proper maintenance is essential.
But this is exactly one of the critical points! [...]
