Biomedical Equipment: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair

Course Description

This comprehensive course is designed to equip biomedical engineers and technicians with the essential skills needed to effectively maintain and troubleshoot sophisticated medical instruments. Developed through a collaboration between TU Delft biomedical engineers and medical technicians from the Nick Simons Institute in Nepal, this course offers a unique blend of theoretical knowledge and practical expertise.

The course addresses the challenges faced by healthcare professionals in maintaining critical medical devices, which are vital for therapeutic and diagnostic care. By providing a compilation of techniques used in hospitals for efficient maintenance and troubleshooting, this course aims to reduce repair time and improve the availability and safety of medical equipment.

What You'll Learn

• Understanding of various diagnostic, therapeutic, and laboratory instruments
• Effective maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair techniques for biomedical instruments
• Skills to quickly diagnose and resolve issues in medical devices
• Strategies to reduce repair time and costs
• Knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and physical phenomena related to biomedical devices
• Best practices for maintaining patient safety and improving hospital efficiency

Prerequisites

• Basic undergraduate-level knowledge of electromagnetic circuits
• Basic higher secondary school understanding of physics and math

Course Content

• Basics of anatomy and physiology
• Physical phenomena driving biomedical devices
• Importance of proper maintenance and efficient troubleshooting
• Maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of diagnostic instruments (e.g., patient monitors, X-ray, ultrasonography)
• Maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of therapeutic instruments (e.g., ventilators, oxygen concentrators, electrosurgical units)
• Maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair of laboratory instruments (e.g., autoclave, centrifuge, microscope)
• Best practices for reducing repair time and improving device availability

Who This Course Is For

This course is ideal for new and emerging biomedical engineers and technicians working in low-income hospitals, as well as professionals seeking to enhance their skills in medical equipment maintenance and repair. It is also suitable for healthcare technology managers looking to improve their understanding of biomedical equipment care.

Real-World Applications

Graduates of this course will be able to:

• Improve the efficiency of hospital operations by reducing equipment downtime
• Enhance patient care through better maintenance of critical medical devices
• Reduce costs associated with equipment repairs and replacements
• Implement best practices for patient safety in healthcare settings
• Contribute to the overall improvement of healthcare technology management
• Apply their knowledge as a "blueprint" for maintaining and troubleshooting various medical devices