Equipment Failure Essay

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The Improvement and Risks of Equipment Failure ANT 132 PLAN: To ensure the safety of patients and how we can improve equipment failure by meeting the guidelines that covers all aspects of the anesthetic equipment from gas pipelines to machines and breathing systems, ventilators and monitoring equipment. When medical equipment malfunctions or fails, it can pose serious life threatening risks to patients. Medical equipment failure, can lead to a result of manufacturing defects or human error is a form of medical malpractice. There have been several cases of people who have die due to equipment failure. Medical Error Prevalence According to a 1999 Institute of Medicine report, 44,000 to 98,000 people die every year as a result of medical mistakes. A more recent study found that 1.5 million Americans are seriously harmed as a result of medication errors annually. In many cases, these drug errors are caused by a combination of doctor/nurse/hospital negligence in addition to equipment failure (www.medical-malpractice-attorney-source.com/.../hospital.../equipment...failures). According to the BBC News a retired civil servant Cecil Barnes, age 79, died at Derriford Hospital in 2008 after equipment failure at Plymouth Hospital due to staff unable to clear his airway despite using three different sets of equipment. Cecil Barnes was in Derriford Hospital for an operation to remove his bladder. During his stay, he was violently sick and inhaled some of his vomit. He later had a heart attack and died (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11760900). Types of equipment failure Numerous types of equipment failure, ranging from heart defibrillator problems to malfunctioned IV pumps, could lead to serious injury or death. For example, a common type of equipment failure occurs when an intravenous pump has a defective valve, which causes too much medication to be

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