The effect of useful life and vendor performance on replacement decision of medical equipment

Medical equipment management life cycle considers various stages ranging from planning to disposal or replacement. Replacement decision is critical and essential stage of medical equipment. A variety of criteria contributes to make an intelligent replacement decision. We enhance the Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) model for replacement of medical equipment, considering a combination of technical, financial, and safety criteria. The considered criteria are; hazard and alerts, cost, useful life, and vendor support. Throughout this model, we classify medical equipment life status into four groups; replacement, test, surveillance and keep. According to the final event score, the replacement decision is approved or not. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) equipment of 12 different types for 3 hospitals, along three years, is utilized to investigate the proposed model. Our model proposes a priority list of equipment that should be replaced. According to the analysis to the proposed factors, the useful life factor is found to be the dominant factor. In addition, a high correlation between vendor performance and expended costs is realized.