Análise de uso e manutenção de monitores multiparamétricos de um estabelecimento assistencial de saúde público

Abstract

The usability of medical devices has seen its importance grow in last few years, with mentions by regulatory agencies in several countries such as Brazil, United States, and United Kingdom. It is a fact that equipment that has good usability has a higher success rate and lower incidence of adverse effects in any activity, whether in treatment or monitoring. The patient monitor (PM) is a medium-complexity medical device and is widely used in many sectors of hospitals and clinics, as it allows monitoring the physiological conditions of patients. The more complex a patient’s condition is, the greater the importance of MP in their monitoring, as it provides heath professionals with data such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature. A poorly designed interface can make it difficult to access some of this information and this can put the person’s life at risk. One of the most famous problems regarding the patient monitors is the excessive number of false alarms (alarm fatigue), which bother and wear out patients and professionals, however, there are several other aspects that must be analyzed regarding the use of this equipment, such as its entire physical interface that should be in direct contact with the healthcare professional, and the software that will allow the access different features and evaluate the parameters. Thus, this work aimed to analyze, through data from the hospital health technology management system, how the maintenance and use of patient monitors in a high complexity hospital are carried out, to find the most common causes of failures in this equipment and compare it with what happens in other countries. According to the data analyzed, it was found that the usability problems present in this hospital are the same as those observed in different places, and fastest and most viable solution for them is an application of training and continuing education to professionals who use this equipment.