The Clinical Engineering department of the Duke University Health System is responsible for managing the medical equipment in three hospitals, including the thousand-bed Duke University Medical Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. An essential tool for carrying out this responsibility is a comprehensive Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).
At the heart of a basic CMMS is an inventory of medical equipment and systems in the organization. A key CMMS function CMMS is scheduling for planned maintenance (PM) activities. The CMMS is also the repository for the cost of all maintenance, whether provided by employees of the organization, by external service providers, or through service contracts.
Beyond the basics, CMMS programs are distinguished by the level of their support for data analytics and effective departmental management. And each clinical engineering department has unique requirements that influence which CMMS product is most appropriate. The Duke CE department is part of Information Technology and effective CE-IT collaboration is essential. For example, it is vital to seamlessly link Clinical Engineering’s inventory of medical equipment with Information Technology’s network infrastructure documentation contained in a Change Management Database.
Duke’s clinical engineering department was a long-term user of Accruent’s TMS product but, for a variety of reasons, wanted to investigate other CMMS products that might better match its evolving requirements. In close cooperation with Duke CE and IT personnel, Baretich Engineering designed and carried out a project to identify a replacement CMMS.
The project included the following steps:
Develop a Requirements Document that specified the required functionality.- Develop a Request for Information document, evaluate written responses, and conduct online demonstrations by CMMS vendors.
- Develop a detailed Request for Proposal document, evaluate and score written responses,
conduct multiple online demonstrations, and check references provided by CMMS vendors. - Carry out an in-depth review of CMMS vendor finalists, including focused demonstrations, additional reference checking, and cost analyses.
- Recommend a replacement CMMS product.
One of the key factors we addressed was the distinction between “conventional” CMMS products and two relatively new CMMS products based on the ServiceNow platform used by many healthcare IT programs, including Duke’s. The two CMMS vendor finalists included one conventional product and one ServiceNow-based product.
References
Computerized Maintenance Management Systems for Healthcare Technology Management). Ted Cohen and Matt Baretich. 2017. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation.
HTM Levels Guide. Matt Baretich, Frank Painter, and Ted Cohen. 2016. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation.