72th day of attachment

I went to Operation Theatre in search for the PCA pumps but all of the pumps are out for use. There are a few jobs assigned to me which are calling vendors to remind them of the maintenance schedule, typing quotation and do some in-house maintenance.

There is a quotation for the PCA pump, Graseby 3300 as the main board assembly is faulty so I consulted to Mr Sin whether we should purchase the part as the price of the main board assembly costs about $1000 less than the price of a brand new PCA Graseby 3300 pump. The finally decision is purchasing the main board assembly but the part will be delivered in early august. I hope I can finish this job before I finished my attachment.

Went with my colleague who is in charge of repair for the month to Clinic L. The screws on the handler of cycler ergometer, bikeMAX R biker exercise got loosen so the physiotherapist called us to tighten the screws. Since we are going to Clinic L, we returned back the defibrillator that was sent for repair some time ago. She tightened up the screws while I looking for the physiotherapist to check for the location of the defibrillator in the clinic.

A Terumo thermometer is being delivered by the porter that it is a loaner from us to replace another thermometer which is due for maintenance this month. Sometimes, we have to loan devices to the departments in order to perform maintenance procedure as nurses may use it when there are a lot of patients or cases to perform.

In the afternoon, I performed the maintenance checking for Terumo infrared thermometer by using a Terumo calibrator that we bought from Terumo. There will be heated air in the calibrator. The temperature is being controlled by a heater control. A timer that indicates the duration that the technician able to measure the temperature. The range for the thermometer must be within 39.8 to 40.2 degree Celsius. However, the temperature is only 39.3 degree Celsius which is not within the range. The solution is to change the protection sheet. Any dirt or slightly damaged of the protection sheet may influence the temperature measurement. For the thermometer, there are only a couple of common faults such battery weak and the probe cover release button is faulty.

Devices will be returned to their respective owners as we will deliver at the end of the week unless the nurses will call to let us know that they need it urgently. It applies to the repair procedure too.

71th day of attachment

There are far much repair needs to be done for this month. I am trying to finish doing the intermittent suction regulators while my colleague who is in charge for repair this month dealing with the infusion pumps for today. The last intermittent suction regulator is the one that I handle a week ago. After cleaning the thoroughly the whole unit and a few adjustment, the fault is still there. Overturning of the time control valves is causing the problem. I tried using the spare timing valve to see whether the problem is valve faulty. However, it did not seem to be a problem with the valves. Trying to figure out the real problem. The second possible cause is malfunctioning of unilogic module, as the rest causes do not seem to be the problem. I finished repairing all Intermittent Suction Units from Datex – Ohmeda and did functional check before returning the units to the rightful owners.

During the afternoon, I ordered the main board assembly of Graseby 3300 PCA pump since it is faulty and Sp02 extension cables and probe sensors from Fortuna and Tyco respectively. Returned two endoscopes that were just delivered. They are colon flexible endoscope and video gastro flexible endoscope. Problem for colonioscope is distal end keep springing back and for gastroscope is the knob is loose while turning. Whenever any of the endoscopes is faulty, we will send to vendor for repair and they will charge us according to the service and parts being used.

70Th DaY of My AttAchMent

Since we still have a few devices left for preventive maintenance and june is about to end soon, we went around the hospital to locate these devices. We took a couple of hours to finish the last few devices. Two of them located a cell culture laboratory and one at endoscopy department.

There are about 6 pumps which consists of 5 STC 503 infusion pumps and 5 sphygnomomamometers. Most of the devices sent for repair are these two devices. Out of the 5 pumps, three of them displaying "Er 2", one having occlusion out of range and other sent for preventive maintenance.

Firstly, i tried my best to adjust the occlusion range for the whole day after i was done with the maintenance. However, i still unable to adjust the occlusion range within the expected values even i turn it to the minimum. The occlusion result seems to varies with time. May be i try it again tomorrow as the occlusion alarms is very crucial to the patients.

Secondly, i delivered repaired endoscope to ENDO and went to MICU to lend them the loaned blood analyzer for the time being. The temperature and EQC tests seem to pass at the workplace and other departments so we are still analyzing the fault. I tried my luck again at the operation theatre to find my last 2 pca pumps for maintenance. Unfortunately, i don't have the luck as it is still out at the wards. Staff nurse had something else required me to do which is adjusting the setting which is duration for the dose limit. I thought of going to the configuration mode to adjust the setting. At that point of time, i think doing it hands on make me remember better than just knowing the theory. However, knowing the theory allows me to have basic understanding of individual devices. Therefore, i concluded that both helps me to a large extent.

69th day of attachment

Returned 2 pumps and left with 4 more pumps to be done. However, while returning the pumps, most of them are out with patients so only left one pump at the operation theatre. Preventive maintenance for pumps quite time consuming as you have to know the availability of the pumps and duration for you to complete the PM. Since I am doing one and having one waiting for repair in the workplace, there are 2 more pumps to be completed.

While waiting for my flow result for PCA Pump, I took an alternating mattress pressure system from the cabinet to analyze the fault. Sometimes, the porter will bring the whole system down to the BME. The pressure control and mattress seem to be working fine together as the rows on the mattress seem to be alternating.

After finished the maintenance of the PCA pump, I exchanged board with the faulty PCA pump. For this time, I exchanged the main board and found out that actually is the main board problem. However, buying the main board is equivalent buying a brand new pump. Therefore, I have to discuss with Mr Sin when he is back. I felt that repairs that are sent down for repair seems to be mainly infusion pump STC-503 and sphygnomomamometers.

68th day of attachment

I just completed doing 3 manual sphygnomomamometers. I decided to repair all of them since I have done it before. More practice on this device will allow me to master my repair skills for it. The repair for it is simply changing the parts. There was a commissioning of PHILIPS monitor, intellivue Patient Monitor MP20 done by IDS service engineer. There were slightly more functional tests to be done. There are NIBP leakage, NIBP linearity, NIBP accuracy, ECG, Respiratory and temperature test. NIBP leakage is to check whether there is any leak when the internal valve is fully opened. Linearity test is to find out the upper limit of pressure that monitor can produce while Accuracy test is to determine the lower limit of pressure that it produces. There is a diaphragm covering the valve. It will result in worn out as time passed by. When it worn out, there is a possibility of the linearity test failed which means the result will be higher than 6mmHg (expected measurement). The usual tests including international safety test are done using pulse Oximetry stimulator, international safety analyser and patient simulator.

I spent the whole afternoon to do maintenance of PCA pump, Graseby 3300. Finally I understand how to do the procedure with the help of my colleague. However, the maintenance for all the pumps are to be done yearly all at once so thankfully, I am privileged to attach in Alexandra Hospital at this time to give me a chance to get my hands on it for maintenance.

However, the problem of PCA pump that has a blurry display has not yet solved so I am thinking of using another PCA pump’s display assembly to check whether the problem lies with the main board.

I managed to finish maintenance of the 2 PCA pumps due to many cases in OT.