Safety Standards compliance in the successful operation of biomedical equipment: a study of Port Harcourt Metropolis

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the Safety Standards (sine-qua-non) in the Successful Operation of Biomedical Equipment in Selected Health care facilities in Port Harcourt Metropolis of Rivers State. The study employed a descriptive research design and the instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire which were distributed to the ive (5) selected Health care facilities Port Harcourt Metropolis of Rivers State. A total number of 100 respondents were used for the study. The respondent’s views/data were collated presented and analyzed using simple percentage statistical method. Findings of the study showed that majority of the respondents (70%) said they do not have safety environment that could guarantee successful operation of some biomedical devices, (75%) said there is no safety standards for operation of some biomedical equipment in their Health care facilities and 90% agreed that there were consequences of poor safety appliance to biomedical equipment. Following the result of the study as indicated above, it could be deduced that safety standards were not observed which resulted in unusable equipment, untreated patients, wrong diagnosis, wrong treatment, electric shock, and infection from contaminated equipment, frustrated medical staff and overloaded repair shops. Hence this study recommended that operation of equipment should be carried under the conditions for which it is appropriate, only staff that are knowledgeable in the operation of the biomedical equipment should be allowed and also ensure that there are routine inspection and maintenance of the biomedical equipment as at when due to avoid the above unpleasant conditions.