electrical safety in hospitals

Electrical faults in hospitals: causes, problems and solutions

Today we want to address the real problem of electrical faults in hospitals, understanding what they really are, how they occur, what problems they cause, their consequences and how to avoid them.

When we talk about power failures in hospitals, we are referring to any unexpected interruption of the power supply or malfunction of electrical equipment. 

In a hospital environment, power failures can have serious consequences, as they can directly affect the lives of patients and the work of healthcare professionals. For this reason, it is essential to understand the causes, the problems caused by electrical faults, to see practical cases in order to become aware of them and to establish measures to prevent them.

Patient electrical safety: a basic guide

The electrical safety of patients in healthcare centres is a matter of absolute priority, both to avoid problems with electrical current that could harm the health of patients and the operation of the healthcare centre and medical staff.

In this article we will look at some of the crucial elements in ensuring the electrical safety of the patient, such as the standards, the type of electrical system and its elements, and what to do to eliminate and deal with the dangers and risks that exist.

Hospital electrical safety can be defined as the group of preventive actions we take to minimise or eliminate the risk of accidents to patients, medical equipment and infrastructure, and healthcare personnel.

Towards the perfect hospital

Hospitals that do not look like refrigerators or cold and grey mega-constructions, warm, spacious, well-lit healthcare centres with large windows and a welcoming décor, comfortable rooms for both staff and patients and their families, and adequate and renovated hospital equipment.

This is what the public, patients, healthcare professionals and the sector in general have been looking for in recent years. It is the most common request in search of the perfect hospital. That ideal place for which there is still a long way to go…

So how can we achieve the perfect hospital? Or at least, health centres that respond to the requests and needs not only of today, but of the future. These are some of the keys, methods and trends that can be followed, both for hospital equipment and for improving rooms, wards, areas, floors, environments, etc.

Batteries and emergency power supply units in hospitals: what you need to know

For decades, the implementation of technology in the different spheres of human life has transformed the way we consume, relate to each other and live. It has certainly transformed it for the better. After all, a priori, technology makes our lives easier. However, as we use more and more electronic systems in our daily lives, we also become more energy dependent.

That is why, in a field such as healthcare, the use of batteries for emergency supply units in hospitals is essential to guarantee permanent access to the power supply, even in the most complicated situations or in exceptional events that may cause, for example, power cuts.

Today we want to address the importance of batteries and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for the proper functioning of the healthcare system.

Data networks in hospitals

The daily life of hospitals and any type of health centre is mainly focused on patient medical care. However, beyond people, there are also a series of factors that are part of hospital management and that we cannot ignore.

One of the elements that has gained the most weight recently has been that related to sensitive data that is collected in hospitals and health centres and that, although indirectly, also contributes to good patient care and proper functioning both from a medical and organizational point of view. For example: hospital data networks. Let’s talk about all of this in this article.

Equipment and facilities for haemodynamics operating theatre

Over the last two decades, the development of cath-lab rooms in hospitals has gone hand in hand with the profound transformation and innovation in hospital equipment, safety conditions and process improvement.

A profound transformation in which interventional procedures have become major players.

As new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities have appeared in this type of hospital, the level of training of medical staff, as well as the human, technical and equipment requirements, have been modified.

Find out from ETKHO what haemodynamics operating theatres consist of and what systems and elements they should contain as a basic foundation for their optimal functioning.

The hybrid operating room: design, equipment and benefits

The hybrid operating room is a great advance in the field of surgery, since, in general terms, it allows multidisciplinary work by specialists from different areas and helps to perform complex surgeries faster, easier, safer and less invasively. But what exactly is a hybrid operating room?

It is a surgical room that is equipped with advanced medical imaging/radiodiagnosis devices, allowing different diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to be carried out simultaneously.

A hybrid operating room allows the insertion of catheters or endoscopes through small holes with which to view smaller anatomical regions, greatly facilitating the surgery process.

Electrical safety in the ICU and resuscitation areas

Hospital units, especially ICUs, are contexts with high risks of electrical failures if they do not have an adequate electrical safety system.

Today, most medical devices are electronic, so they are powered by power supplies and the electrical grid. If an electrical safety failure occurs, the risk of patient injury is high. Especially, in areas such as the ICU or other critical areas in health centers.

The ICU is the intensive care unit of a hospital, that is, the area of ​​a hospital center where the most seriously ill patients who require continuous and specific surveillance and attention are admitted.

By critical areas we understand those areas of the hospitals where health care is produced in which the risk is high. In addition to the ICU, for example, we find operating rooms, emergencies, clean rooms, isolation rooms, ICU…

To maintain hospital electrical safety in these areas, there are various elements that protect and guarantee the electrical supply. We are talking about, for example, IT power systems, uninterruptible power supplies or ground connections, among others.

Alarm repeaters

Current alarm repeaters, in addition to their basic and logical use, which is to ‘snitch’ about an error or possible problem situation, have evolved to help medical personnel act. And it is that health workers have often considered this alarm as a necessary ‘nuisance’, seeing its required maintenance as a nuisance.

The fact is that, with some frequency, medical personnel have not known how to act in the face of these alarms. Or they simply did not know the risk situation that was taking place, especially in the alarms related to electrical safety.

But today, alarm repeaters not only provide additional information to medical personnel, but indicate what to do at all times to remedy the situation, or who to call. With them, touch screens also stand out on technical panels, for example in operating rooms, which allows the graphic display of the alarm with icons and colors.

Hospital safety equipment maintenance protocol

The maintenance management of safety medical equipment in hospitals contributes to providing better and greater productivity of services and equipment.

The quality of the healthcare environment is often determined based on this management, determining the final expenses and costs of the hospital safety equipment, the quality of patient care and the confidence of the healthcare professional.

For this reason, the professionals who are in charge of the management of the medical team have to make sure that this type of device is up-to-date, works correctly and can extend its useful life to the maximum without giving up its optimal functioning.

How to get it? Through the implementation of maintenance protocols for security equipment in hospitals.