Investigating the medical equipment maintenance practices in selected hospital in Zambia.
Date
2022
Authors
Chilufya, Queen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The role of medical equipment is crucial for efficient healthcare delivery in any hospital.
Physicians rely on equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Therefore, the
availability of medical equipment in good working condition and the optimal utilization of the
equipment is important in improving the quality of health services. In Zambian hospitals, many
pieces of medical equipment are unavailable because they are out of use due to many factors, the
major one being poor maintenance. Even though the unavailability of medical equipment has dire
consequences to the lives of many Zambians, investigations into its causes are uncommon. Using
both qualitative and quantitative approaches, this study investigated the factors that affect medical
equipment maintenance and maintenance practices in selected Zambian hospitals. Questionnaires
and interviews were the main methods for data collection. Target population that consisted of
Nurses and Medical equipment personnel. In total, there were Nurses (35) who only deal with the
critical medical equipment at a particular time and Medical equipment personnel (25). The sample
size was derived by calculating the sample from the target population. Sampling was done using
stratified sampling method and applying Yamane (1967) formula. The study adopted proportionate
stratified sampling where the general population was stratified into various groups. The study then
distributed the sample size so determined based on the distribution of the population among the
strata such that stratum with more elements in had more elements picked compared to stratum with
smaller number of elements. The study was based on five major urban hospitals in Zambia are the
University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH), Levy Mwanawasa
University Teaching Hospital (LMUTH), Kitwe Teaching Hospital (KTH), Ndola Teaching
Hospital (NTH) and Livingstone Teaching Hospital (LTH). In this research we consider looking
at critical medical equipment in improving the maintenance activities in hospitals.
Face validity and content validity were assessed by the experts in the field of medical equipment
management. Pretest of all the study instruments were done at UTH. The results obtained were
also compared to study that was done by Bahreini et al (2019). The methodology in the study of
Bahreini (2019) consisted of the use of document review and interviews as tools for the collection
of data and content analysis approach for results interpretation, therefore, the study by the
researchers was used for validation of the results because of the similarities in the approach.
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Data were analyzed using the content analysis approach to identify the underlying themes and
subthemes. The themes identified included: resources, quality control, documentation, education,
service and planning. The study established that among the factors affecting maintenance are lack
of adequate space, computers, inadequate fund allocation, poor documentation of maintenance
activities, and lack of training for medical equipment maintenance personnel and involvement of
the medical equipment maintenance personnel in decision-making patterning to medical
equipment. To address these factors, improvement in resources provision, quality control,
documentation, education, service and medical equipment-related planning must be realized. In
this paper, a multi-criteria decision-making analysis model (MCDMA) in solving existing
maintenance practices that lead to equipment downtime was adopted. The MDCA approach was
used to try and improve the maintenance practices that are wrongly done as found in the factors
affecting maintenance. This approach will improve factors such as funding allocation towards
spare parts and replacing medical equipment, maintenance prioritization whether PM or CM,
training, quality assurance and planning.
Keywords: factors affecting maintenance, medical equipment maintenance; maintenance
practices; Zambian hospitals, content analysis approach
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Medical equipment--Maintenance. , Materials Management, Hospital. , Equipment and supplies.