Technical Aspects of Intensive Care Unit Management: A Single-Center Experience at a Tertiary Academic Hospital

Abstract

Purpose Special technical issues associated with the function and maintenance of medical devices arise in intensive care units (ICUs). This study explored the level of comfort of ICU staff in dealing with selected equipment, the factors that are associated with the staff’s ease of adaptation to new technologies, and the role of technical support staff. Patients and Methods This is a single-center cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey that was conducted in February 2018 and targeted nurses working in the ICUs of King Saud University Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results Among the 297 nurses who completed the survey, almost all of the respondents (99.3%) were aware of the ICU equipment preventive maintenance program. Most of the nurses had received training on how to use infusion pumps (96.2%), cardiac monitoring systems (78.0%), and cardiac defibrillation devices (73.9%). Sixty nurses (20.2%) indicated that at least one super user was available for at least one device. About half of the staff reported one device whose user manual was available. Most nurses reported having no resources regarding updates on medical devices. Conclusion Our findings revealed an alarming need to address technical issues related to medical devices used in the ICU and to design a framework for the safe operation of medical devices based on international practices. It is necessary to empower the role of the super user and medical device clinical educator as well as to optimize communication between the national regulatory body of medical devices and healthcare providers, especially those working in acute care areas.

Point-of-Care Lung Ultrasound in the Intensive Care Unit—The Dark Side of Radiology: Where Do We Stand?

“…Medical devices, including ventilators, infusion pumps, breathing and feeding support, and others, improve patient care and outcomes in the ICU. Despite the staff's ability to manage them, using them properly and checking their correct position reduces the development of adverse events associated with them [57]. The correct positioning of the various life-sustaining devices in the ICU represents a further diagnostic challenge in the correct reading of the CXR (Figure 15) [41].…”