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Train staff to use medical equipment safely

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, February 6, 2004

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Respiratory managers at hospitals might follow their facility's policy for dealing with durable medical equipment vendors, but home health agencies (HHAs) and hospices don't always have formal policies in place. These policies, combined with the right training techniques, help your staff understand and use the equipment safely, which in turn prevents harm to patients. At Southern Home Care in Jeffersonville, IN, staff use several different pieces of equipment, including pulse oximeters, portable electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, and ultrasounds. Not every nurse and clinician regularly deals with equipment-only two-thirds of the staff use it on a daily basis. Regardless, all staff at Southern Home Care must know the equipment policy and most must go through training. Southern Home Care trains its staff on the use of each piece of equipment. "We use the manufacturer's database as a beginning and then actually have the [manufacturer] come in to demonstrate correct procedure," says the facility's director, Lorraine Waters, CSN, CHCE. "Staff who use the EKGs go through EKG training at the hospital."

Since most HHAs and hospices deal with a limited amount of medical equipment, training shouldn't be difficult. Follow the simple guideline below to heighten your staff's awareness of medical equipment safety:

• Communicate with staff. Ensure that your staff know about your medical equipment policy, understand it, and follow it. Post the policy around your agency to keep it in the front of staff members' minds and offer help or suggestions if they have questions.

To read more on medical equipment policies, and for a sample policy on maintenance of patient care equipment, go to Respiratory Care Manager (RCM). The cost is $10. Subscribers to the online version of RCM have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter can find this article in their February issues. For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire February issue of RCM, click here to choose between the PDF and HTML versions for just $30. RCM online subscribers have free access to this issue, and print newsletter subscribers can find this issue in their mailboxes.

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