Organizational scheme facilitates device inspection, documentation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G R Goodman.
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Investigations into the problems associated with electrosurgery machines have concentrated on protecting the patient from radio frequency burns. While protection of the patient is essential an equally serious and dangerous situation exists in protecting the surgeon, particularly the urologist during transurethral resection of the prostate. The 2 subtle causes of burns to the surgeon are reviewed--capacitive coupling and grounding paths that include the surgeon. Protection of the surgeon as well as the patient depends upon an awareness of the peculiar mating of high frequency current and the grounded environment of the operating room.
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Acceptance of the BMET into the patient care picture, and recognition of the BMET as an equal contributor to quality patient care are central to the advancement of this relatively new career field. One factor in gaining this acceptance is the overall image presented by those who call themselves BMET's. An understanding of emerging professions and the effect of dress on image enhancement can provide useful insight into the phenomena of professional recognition. A second aspect of development important to any professional is continuing educational growth. A performance-evaluation scheme, stressing and promoting continuing education, is described in this paper.
Technology, as applied in healthcare, is an encompassing term for products, equipment, procedures and services allied in some way with healthcare. This paper discusses technology as the word applies to healthcare. Areas of activity under the umbrella of technology--technology transfer, technology assessment and technology management--will be defined and discussed from the standpoint of their interaction with clinical engineering. The clinical engineering profession has approached participation in each of these activities in a nonsystematic manner, resulting in limited impact and a limited role. To go beyond its present role, the profession must study the processes of technology assessment, transfer, and management to understand their components, critical paths, strengths and weaknesses. This research should be undertaken by a joint group of clinical engineers representing practitioners and academia. Existing key players or professions should be identified, the role clinical engineers wish to pursue as a professional group and the skills required to assure competency should be declared, and appropriate resources for acquiring knowledge and experience identified.
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There are a variety of group-judgment methods to resolve controversial issues in health care. Meta-analysis and group judgment methods such as consensus conferences are attempts to bring diverse elements of information together for synthesis. Leape notes that a significant body of literature exists regarding the techniques used to elicit opinions from groups. Organizational structures and functions of groups vary in terms of the natures of interactions among group members and the manners in which final conclusions are reached and expressed. The introduction of the process of technology assessment into the hospital setting introduces a problem inherent in the introduction of somewhat academic processes into the operational real world of interpersonal relations, administrative and medical staff interactions, staff costs, and institutional priorities. Hospital administrative processes are based on the committee approach. Medical staff credentialing, drug formularies, and administrative policies are all developed, approved, and implemented through committees. It would seem logical that if technology assessment is to be effective in the hospital setting, then those same group decision processes inherent in committees should be used in technology assessment. Relatedly, if technology assessment is to be successful in the hospital setting, then how can the limited resources of hospital-based staff be best utilized to carry through the assessment of elected technologies? This paper discusses group decision processes, particularly as they relate to technology assessment. The processes of particular interest are those that focus on group interactions rather than theory-based decision processes. The purpose for the paper is to provide to clinical engineering management and senior hospital management background information to use in the formulation of the operating parameters of a hospital-based technology assessment committee.
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