Capacity building for medical equipment technicians improves healthcare

A midprogram assessment was conducted to determine if a continuing education program to instruct biomedical engineers in equipment repair and management is impacting healthcare in Honduras. A matched cohort study was conducted with 12 hospitals. Collected information included source, age, and functionality of the equipment in up to 5 departments. Hospital directors and technicians were also interviewed. Hospitals with technicians in the program have significantly less out-of-service equipment (30%, P = .035) and are more often successful at repairing equipment taught in equipment-specific modules (P = .022). The greatest obstacle to repair was the lack of parts and accessories for all the surveyed hospitals. Copyright © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.