Healthcare Technology Management Fundamentals
This domain tests whether you can run a technology lifecycle, not just repair devices: capital planning, inventory integrity, maintenance strategy, service-delivery models, and the metrics that prove the program works.
Lifecycle and inventory
Plan, select, acquire, accept, maintain, then replace or dispose. Every item in the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) carries a unique control number, standardized nomenclature (GMDN or UMDNS), manufacturer/model/serial, physical location, acquisition cost, risk score and maintenance plan. A device missing from the CMMS is invisible to PM scheduling, recall matching and capital planning at the same time.
Maintenance strategy
Intervals come from the manufacturer unless the organization adopts an evidence-based alternative equipment maintenance (AEM) program backed by documented risk assessment and failure data. Corrective, preventive, predictive and reliability-centered strategies coexist: a linear accelerator gets OEM predictive service, an IV pole gets inspection on rounds.
Metrics that matter
Track PM completion against the due population (excluding properly decommissioned items), uptime, MTBF (operating hours divided by failures), MTTR, work-order turnaround by priority, parts spend, and contract cost per modality. Report trends rather than single numbers.
Worked example
A ventilator fleet logs 4 failures across 20,000 device-hours: MTBF = 20,000 / 4 = 5,000 hours. Average repair is 6 hours, so MTTR = 6 hours and availability = 5,000 / (5,000 + 6) = 99.88%. That arithmetic supports buying a spare unit; it does not support stretching PM intervals.
Traps
- Including devices retired mid-year inflates PM compliance.
- MTBF uses operating hours, not calendar hours.
- A work order closed without documented verification is not complete.
- A low purchase price can hide high consumable or service cost; use total cost of ownership.