Medical Equipment Technological Assessment at Fatebenefratelli-Sacco Hospital: an ad hoc Replacement Priority Index

Abstract

The latest report of the Osservatorio Parco Installato (OPI) highlights the widespread state of obsolescence of electromedical equipment in Italy; in this context, Sacco hospital has implemented an internal strategy of management and evaluation of such equipment, in order to improve the planning of purchases, for greater profitability and efficiency of the service. The hospital has devised its own evaluation strategy for the installed park, developing an ad hoc model for multi-presidio public structures in which there is an outsourced management of the maintenance of electromedical equipment. The model, based on the synergy between a technical Replacement Priority Index (RPI) and a clinical RPI, aims to be quickly upgradable and able to grasp the urgency of replacing an equipment based on the state of the others of the same type. The strategy, given the heterogeneity of the group involved and the parameters analyzed, is based on the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA); the specific weights of the parameters have been assigned thanks to an internal survey in which the various industry experts have drawn up their ranking of importance of the parameters considered. The goal is therefore the search for total harmony between health and decision-making bodies, providing for the involvement of nurses, active engine of hospitals, and doctors, to outline a shared strategy of technological modernization and better use of the resources offered by the Piano Nazionale di Resistenza e Resilienza (PNRR) and D. lgs. 34/2020, next step of the project in progress.