The 2016 Biomedical Engineering International Conference (BMEiCON-2016)
Development of an Information System for Medical
Equipment Management in Hospitals
S. Nutdanai *, L. Pornthip
Department of Science and Technology
Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University
Bangkok, THAILAND
Mar6666@hotmail.com
Abstract— This research aimed to develop a WepMEt (Web
application for medical equipment management in hospitals)
employing the concepts of internet of thing, decision support
system, and industrial engineering technique. The system was
web-based and supported administrative tasks from both in-house
and outsourcing contract service. The program was initially
developed by rapid prototype-base method. Then working
procedure was synthesized by specialists from Biomedical
Instrumentation for Research and Development Center of
Mahidol University, Medical Equipment Units of Rajavithi
Hospital and Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health. The
program incorporated 6 modules; 1) medical equipment
registration 2) spare part registration 3) repairing and
maintenance 4) preventive maintenance and calibration 5) medical
equipment stock and 6) summary and report. The program had
been tested for 3 months in a 500-bed hospital and an 800-bed
hospital. The user satisfaction was evaluated. The evaluation
result showed that the first 3 most satisfied indicators were; the
operation meets the expectations. (4.11), meet the quality
assessment system and overall performance (4.09), and the
equipment information meets the user’s requirement. (4.06).
Keywords— Medical equipment management system, Medical
equipment database system, Hospital information system.
I. INTRODUCTION
The management system is an effective tool to enhance the
medical equipment management in hospitals for cost and safety
throughout the equipments’ lifespan. The development of a
proper tool is therefore needed, and the information technology
has become significant on this issue. Saleh el al. had developed
iThink program focusing planning for equipment management,
planning assessment, budget management, health technology
assessment, medical equipment information and risk
management [1]. Lars el al. had presented the architecture of
medical equipment service management and details of
integration to develop a service program which is not a web
service [2]. Chia-Hung el al. had developed software for
medical equipment maintenance management at the National
Taiwan University Hospital; web-based applications which can
record and analyze the maintenance data of each medical
equipment category [3]. Bin Li et al. presented medical
equipment management frameworks that enable cooperation
with outsourcing services [4]. Mokfi el al had presented data
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A. Sanpanich
Institute of Molecular Bosciences,
Mahidol University, NakhonPathom,
THAILAND
mining algorithm to find out new knowledge from database of
the maintenance system that could be beneficial for quality
improvement of the maintenance work [5].
Currently the contract service providers have become more
influential in administrative work. They provide free service of
the management software, but once the hospitals change the
service provider they also have to change the database which
may cause the distraction of data for management decision.
Transferring medical equipment records to the new database can
also cause mistakes and decrease reliability. In consequence, the
researchers had developed a program to use as the main tool for
medical equipment management. It supports modern
management systems and connection with contract service
providers efficiently, resulting that hospitals do not have to
change the software when change contract service providers.
II. METHODOLOGY AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
A. Methods and Tools
The purpose of this research was to develop a management
program to become the main tool and enhance the medical
equipment management in hospitals. The program had been
derived from the research on Development of Decision Support
System for Medical Equipment Management in the Hospitals
[6], improved into a web-based application that supported
cooperation among in-house staff and outsiders, and was in line
with the quality assurance system of the hospitals.
WepMEt.
Hospital member
Database system User Interface
of WepMEt.
Firewall
Hospital network Internet
Biomedical Member of
Clinical staff engineering staff
WepMEt.
Figure 1. The WepMEt network architecture system. [7]
 The researchers developed a rapid prototype module and information which was significant for medical equipment
reviewed by 5 specialists; 2 from Rajavithi Hospital, 2 from management and may lead to the new discover of knowledge.
Queen Sirikit National Child Health, and 1 from Mahidol Figure 3 shows the work flow diagram of the program.
University. The comments obtained were used to improve Users were grouped into 2 types; 1) hospital members: they were
quality of the prototype module, and then developed into a able to access the program via both hospital intranet and internet
program. The researchers used PHP language and MySQL network. 2) WepMEt members: they were accepted and
database as developing tools. The program had been tested for 3 authorized by the hospital to access the program via internet
months in 25 departments of a 500 bed-hospital and 25 network only. Users were able to access modules according to
departments in an 800 bed-hospital, using 2,653 and 2,248 their individual access permission. The contract service
records of medical equipment as operating data. The satisfaction providers therefore were able to record data to the database from
evaluations were conducted in both hospitals using the anywhere outside the hospital. Therefore, the hospitals do not
satisfactory scales as follows ; 4.51 to 5.00 (highest), 3.51 to have to change the database when they change the contract
4.50 (high), 2.51 to 3.50 (average), 1.51 to 2.50 (low), and 1.00 service provider. Figure 4 is the main page of program. Figure 5
to 1.50 (lowest). show the list of lend and return of medical equipment in the
B. WepMEt System Architecture pooling module. Figure 6 show the list of medical equipment in
The software architecture (Figure 1) had been designed the registration module. Figure 7 show the year plan of
under the concept of Internet of thing, decision support system, preventive maintenance and calibration in the IPM module.
industrial engineering technique and considerations of data
Management of decision support module
safety and program efficiency on network. Users could access
the program via hospital intranet or internet network, which
users’ access permission to each module was controlled. Figure
2 shows the structure of the program; Registering Spare part
module reserve module
1. WepMEt database – it had been designed by the
relational database system to keep records of significant data WepMEt database Preventive
that help improving the quality of management process. Repairing
Maintenance and
module
calibration module
2. User interface – the medium between the program and
users, consisting of 6 modules;
Pooling Summaries and
2.1 Medical equipment registration module: it recorded module reports module
Knowledge
information and managed medical equipment in the database, management
linking with the repairing module, spare part reserve module, Back office

and preventive maintenance and calibration module. User interface

2.2 Spare part reserve module: it recorded information

and managed spare parts in database and linked with the Computer network and firewall

repairing module [7].

2.3 Repairing module: it recorded information and Member of WepMEt

managed repairing and maintenance tasks, linking with medical Figure 2. The infrastructure of the WepMEt program set. [7]
equipment registration and spare parts reserve module [8].
2.4 Preventive maintenance and calibration module: it Analizing
Summaries and
reports module
recorded data and was used in management and planning for WepMEt
Database

maintenance and calibration work, linking to the medical Search; Record; Registering

equipment registration module and repairing module. Edit; Delete module

2.5 Pooling module: it recorded and managed medical Hospital member.

Search; Record; Spare part reserve
equipment in stock, linking with medical equipment registration Edit; module

module. Request
In-house
Request; Check;
Repairing module Data record
2.6 Summary and report module: it created summaries Record; Search
Out source
WepMEt member

and reports of all modules, designed to meet the requirements of In-house

summaries and reports by users and to support the decision Plane; Check; Maintenance and
Out source Data record
Record; Search calibration module
making for improving the management process. Waranty

3. Management of decision support system – this part Lend; Return;

Pooling module Lend
Data record

managed the models of decision making that had been designed Check; Record

for to support the decision making. Security check

Need to repair Return

Good
Check Yes Lend
Check

4. Knowledge management system: this system used No

Reserve
techniques of data mining to analyze and exhibit relations of
Figure 3. The work flow diagram of the program.

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 List of lend and return of medical
i
Type Total Reservations Available Lending Damaged

Registration module Spare part reserve module

Repairing module Maintenance and

calibration module
Pooling module Summary and
report module

Backup data system

Figure 4.WepMEt main page. [7] Figure 5. List of lend and return of medical equipment in pooling module.

Figure 6. The list of medical equipment from the registration module.

Month
Type Risk Number of Frequency Total
device
Oct.58 Nov.58 Dec.58 Jan.59 Feb.59 Mar.59 Apr.59 May.59 Jun.59 Jul.59 Aug.59 Sep.59

Figure 7. Year plan of the preventive maintenance and calibration from IPM module.

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 III. RESULT
To prove that the program was effective enough to meet the
expectation of hospital operation and users’ satisfaction, it had
been tested in 25 departments of a 500- bed hospital and another
25 departments of an 800-bed hospital, using 2,653 records and
2, 247 records of medical equipment as operation data. The
evaluation respondents were registered nurses (66%) and
practical nurses (34%). The result showed that the satisfactory
levels were high (3.51 to 4.50) for all indicators. First three
indicators with highest scores were; The operation meets the
expectations satisfaction to overall performance (4.11), Meet the
hospital accreditation system and Satisfaction with overall
performance (4.09) The equipment information meets the user’s
requirement (4.06). Details of the evaluations were show in
Table 1. Figure 8 shows a graph of the average satisfaction
evaluation from 2 hospitals.

TABLE 1. LIST OF SATISFACTION EVALUATION.

4.15 4.11 500beds 800beds Average

4.09 Evaluation Indicator x SD x SD x SD
4.09
4.10 4.06 1. The operation meets the expectations. 4.05 0.55 4.17 0.67 4.11 0.61
4.05 2. The equipment information meets the 3.95 0.75 4.17 0.64 4.06 0.69
4.02 4.034.03 user’s requirement.
4.05
3.99 3. Easy to use and not complicated 4.05 0.75 3.94 0.84 3.99 0.80
4.00 3.97 3.97 4. Data formats are clear and 3.91 0.65 4.02 0.79 3.97 0.72
understandable
3.95 3.923.92 3.92 5. Proper interacts to users. 3.95 0.69 4.09 0.75 4.02 0.72
6. The equipment information meets the 3.95 0.62 4.23 0.73 4.09 0.68
3.90 user’s requirement.
7. Help to accomplish tasks more quickly 4.10 0.71 4.00 0.75 4.05 0.73
3.85 8. Clear and convenient screen 3.73 0.68 4.11 0.81 3.92 0.74
9. The exhibited data is useful 3.64 0.82 4.21 0.75 3.92 0.78
3.80 10. Convenience of progress tracking 3.91 0.72 4.15 0.75 4.03 0.73
11. The program is reliable 3.95 0.69 4.11 0.70 4.03 0.69
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 12. The program covers operation 3.91 0.78 4.02 0.74 3.97 0.76
procedures
13. The program works at all time 3.82 0.70 4.02 0.79 3.92 0.75
14. Satisfaction with overall performance 4.05 0.62 4.13 0.74 4.09 0.68
Figure 8. The satisfaction evaluation graph.

IV. DISCUSSION V. CONCLUSION

The result of evaluation showed the average satisfactory
level of 800-bed hospital at 4.10, higher than the 500-bed
hospital that was at 3.93. The satisfactions of each indicator of
800-bed hospital were also higher in almost every indicator,
except for the indicator ‘easy to use and not complicated (3.94)’
that was lower and ‘help to accomplish tasks more quickly
(4.00)’. The average of the whole satisfactory level was at high
(4.01), corresponding to the indicator of ‘satisfaction with
overall performance’ from both hospitals that were 4.13 and
4.05. Levels of Satisfaction for each indicator did not much
different. Indicators with levels below 4 were ‘easy to use and
not complicated’ (3.99), ‘data formats are clear and
understandable and the program covers operation procedures’
(3.97), ‘clear and convenient screen, the exhibited data is useful’
and ‘the program works at all time’ (3.92) . This may cause by
the fact that the testing period was not long enough for users to
be adaptable.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank the National Research
Council of Thailand (NRCT) to provide the funding for this
research. The leader and all staff in the Biomedical Engineering
Center of Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health. The
leader and all staff in the Biomedical Engineering Center of
Rajavithi Hospital.
The study showed that the medical equipment management
program was effective enough for the operation and it satisfied
the users at high level. It can become an important tool in
medical equipment management in hospitals due to various
aspects; completeness of information, interact with users,
understandable data formats. More importantly, it responded to
the quality assurance system of the hospitals effectively.
However, the further development is still necessary in order to
be more responsive to the new coming technology, such as the
connecting with RFID, reading medical equipment barcodes via
tablet, and add-on summary reports to meet the users’ demands
in the future.
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