SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BLOGTop 9 Tips To Upgrade Your Used Medical Imaging Equipment Successfully!
If you are done with your used medical imaging equipment like PET/CT, MRI, or other, there stands the choice of upgrading it for better performance. Upgrading is required for any medical imaging equipment to boost its efficiency, performance, profitability, operations, and more.
Although upgrading may look like a cakewalk, but it is not. The process includes potential pitfalls that can be disastrous in terms of cost overruns, patient dissatisfaction, and employee frustration.
So, to get your started, the below mentioned effective tips will help you in a smooth transition to a upgraded equipment from an old one.
Choose the imaging equipment you want!
You need to start by deciding on which medical imaging equipment you want to upgrade at your place. Write down all the requirements you want in the next product you want at its place. Be it structural requirements, building mechanical electrical plumbing (MEP), or staffing, or others, make a list of all.
The sooner you decide on the equipment you want at your healthcare facility, the early you can plan for its installation. You can hold a meeting with the doctors at your place or the staff that frequently use that equipment and can learn about what issues they have been facing while using that equipment or what better could have been in the same.
Prep your team!
Once you are done with choosing the equipment you want, it’s time that you start your preparations for assembling the team including, system users, key clinical stakeholders, radiation safety officers, and even physicists.
To bring down the project cost, you must consult with a qualified designer, engineer, or architect. You can get all the guidance with their knowledge and expertise in the implementation, positioning, smoother start-up, and installation of the equipment.
Don’t forget to call the specialist in case any safety check is required before you start to use it.
Employing Interim Mobile Modality
Since upgrades may take some time, interim mobile modality is the best way to cope up with patient volume during the up-gradation process of the equipment.
Make sure that the existing concrete pad is strong enough to safely withstand the mobile trailer. If there is no mobile pad in your facility, make sure you include it in the project budget.
Watch out for the exterior power connections before the interim mobile modality is delivered to you.
Check out for the space required for settling the interim mobile modality so that work can progress with no interruption.
Search for grounds for improvement
Now that you have employed an alternative to your imaging equipment to keep the workflow intact, you can focus ideally on making improvements in your imaging suite.
To enhance value-based care at your healthcare facility, look out for cost-effective and innovative approaches so as to raise the bar of patient care at your facility.
Consult with design professionals and project manager
When you get prepared with your whole list of vendor project manager planning information and suite improvements, present it to design professionals and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) project manager.
You can also narrate specific deliverables to meet project objectives so as to excel performance standards for quality assurance.
Set a timeline
If no project cost of the up-gradation of your equipment is set, then there are chances that you will spend more than what is required and is apt for the project.
With proper timelines set beforehand, you will be ready for each requirement before time and will be able to restrict any added cost due to delay in work.
Budgeting
It’s good to have an idea about how much investment is required to upgrade your medical imaging equipment. Make sure that all kinds of costs, be it direct or indirect are added to the project budget so that you don’t go broke at the end.
Contingency and cost control plans will further help you against unplanned costs in construction.
Draw a construction plan
For the steps on how to proceed, including all the special constructions to be included while up-gradation of medical imaging equipment.
Make sure to get shielding testing pre and post-equipment delivery, and complete shielding modifications that will be helpful for the new equipment.
Come up with an emergency plan and MEP systems to minimize equipment downtime.
Make modifications in your imaging suite as per the Standard of care, building codes, or other regulatory agency policies.
Do keep the project area isolated from the other departments so as to eliminate any chances of infection control and its impacts on the staff and patients.
Planning of Interim Equipment
Eliminate any downtime that would cost you tons of bucks and patient backlog during the process of up-gradation of medical imaging equipment by researching about it in advance.
You will have to decide between utilizing new equipment or the old one as it is going to affect the expense of interim mobile budget line item.
Get started!
With these many things planned, the up-gradation process of medical imaging equipment will become a cakewalk as you will be ready for all the things in advance. Start to curate your plans today with our guide.
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