Why PPM Schedules are vital for Medical Equipment Servicing

Planned Preventative Maintenance or PPM schedules for biomedical equipment maintenance is the process of ensuring the continued functionality of sophisticated medical equipment. This is achieved by carrying out inspections or servicing on a planned schedule.

Why PPM Schedules are needed for Medical Equipment servicing

Planned Preventative Maintenance schedules reduce the downtime of equipment by spotting potential failures in equipment early. Continued Maintenance Contracts are made easier to manage by using PPM Schedules to plan out the frequency of servicing of medical equipment.

The quality of the healthcare offered by your clients is directly linked to the effectiveness of the equipment being used.

Should the performance of the medical equipment drop it can have a significant effect on the quality of a patient’s treatment.

In a report by McKinsey & Company, they found that regular planned maintenance of medical devices through a PPM schedule minimises warranty costs and avoids the need for expensive urgent service visits. You can see more on that report here.

“As a result of PPM Schedules the aggregate rate of emergency field service calls and visits fell by more than 20 percent”

McKinsey & Company

How are PPM schedules in Biomedical carried out by Biomedical Equipment Technicians?

The overall goal of Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMET) is to keep their client’s medical equipment operational and avoid unexpected call-outs, which causes a disruption of a patient’s treatment.

Replacing or repairing parts before a breakdown occurs will ensure the equipment has a longer operational lifecycle and reduces the negative impact of equipment downtime.

Depending on the equipment itself will determine the time between each service or inspection.

Having well structured PPM schedules can be highly beneficial to the client and the Biomedical Servicing Company.

The client will avoid the negative impact equipment downtime has on their business and the servicing company will be able to rely on reliable, predictable cash flow.

Why Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMET) use software for PPM schedules

Most Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMETs) rely on software to plan out their PPM schedules and Job Management Software gives them access to documentation and notes on the equipment.

Photos can be taken on site and uploaded to the asset which can help identify repeated failure points and gives the technician what they need to make an informed decision on whether to repair or replace.

Managers or Team Schedulers at Biomedical Equipment Servicing companies will plan out their next few weeks and months, ensuring they rotate through the planned maintenance schedules for their clients.

How Medical Servicing companies anticipate the needs of their healthcare clients

To grow and develop the relationships they have with their clients, Healthcare and Medical equipment servicing companies use the data they collect on site to make better decisions.

Replacing equipment can be a costly affair for their clients but with data to support their proposal, its a lot easier to advise customers on the long term benefits of replacing equipment rather than continuing with on-going repairs.

“To be able to see very easily what we had to do previously for that particular piece of equipment is so valuable”

Sarah Betteley, Deva Medical

Every inspection or service they complete provides more information that Medical Equipment Servicing businesses can use to track trends in equipment faults.

The data that Sarah’s team collects on site using Klipboard, helps Deva Medical make better, more informed decisions around the maintenance of their client’s Healthcare equipment. Learn more.

PPM Schedules in medical servicing is simplified by using Klipboard

Job Management Software will help Field Service Engineers schedule the servicing of medical equipment and improve the overall quality of the service you offer to your healthcare clients.

Here’s a quick video showing how easily you can create PPM schedules for a client by using Klipboard:

With Klipboard you’re able to quickly find your client’s details and raise a job. Previously you would need to book a job onto your CRM system and then separately schedule more service dates into a calendar. Without Klipboard you would have further admin to do by sending the assigned technician documentation and details on the asset they are servicing. Learn more.