Helping the Clinical Engineering Community Speak the Same Language
by Barbara Kram, Editor | April 22, 2009
Nomenclature™ (UMTSN™)
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA-ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit healthcare research organization, is promoting the adoption and use of a common vocabulary for service activities within the clinical engineering community with the launch of the Universal Medical Technology Service Nomenclature™ (UMTSN™). Terms are grouped under three categories: Maintenance/Service Activities Terminology, Equipment Problem Terminology, and Maintenance/Service Time and Cost Terminology.
UMTSN facilitates identifying, analyzing, filing, transferring, and communicating data associated with medical equipment. This type of nomenclature is vital to create meaningful clinical engineering indicators and benchmarks for factors such as device reliability and employee productivity.
"Response to our proposed UMTSN was extremely favorable at the 2007 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Annual conference, so we felt confident that the clinical engineering community was in support of our initiative," says Tim Ritter, senior project engineer, ECRI Institute. "Since that time, we have incorporated users' comments to the proposed terms and included a cross reference to alternative vocabulary," Ritter added.
The April 2009 issue of ECRI Institute's Health Devices journal invites users to review and adopt the nomenclature. The journal is a component of the Health Devices System™, a membership program with resources to improve and manage medical device safety, maintenance, and cost-effectiveness. UMTSN is available for FREE on ECRI Institute's website at www.ecri.org/umtsn. Viewers can download the terminology and solicit additional terms.
CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) vendors are also being encouraged to adopt UMTSN. Vendors interested in imbedding UMTSN in their programs may do so for free and questions on this subject should be directed to Louis Anzalone at lanzalone@ecri.org or (610) 825-6000, ext. 5188.
For more information about ECRI Institute's Universal Medical Technology Service Nomenclature or the Health Devices System, e-mail umtsn(at)ecri.org, call (610) 825-6000, ext. 5168, or write to us at ECRI Institute, 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA, 19462.
About ECRI Institute
ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to uncover the best approaches to improving patient care. As pioneers in this science for 40 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute is designated a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Visit www.ecri.org.
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UMTSN facilitates identifying, analyzing, filing, transferring, and communicating data associated with medical equipment. This type of nomenclature is vital to create meaningful clinical engineering indicators and benchmarks for factors such as device reliability and employee productivity.
"Response to our proposed UMTSN was extremely favorable at the 2007 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Annual conference, so we felt confident that the clinical engineering community was in support of our initiative," says Tim Ritter, senior project engineer, ECRI Institute. "Since that time, we have incorporated users' comments to the proposed terms and included a cross reference to alternative vocabulary," Ritter added.
The April 2009 issue of ECRI Institute's Health Devices journal invites users to review and adopt the nomenclature. The journal is a component of the Health Devices System™, a membership program with resources to improve and manage medical device safety, maintenance, and cost-effectiveness. UMTSN is available for FREE on ECRI Institute's website at www.ecri.org/umtsn. Viewers can download the terminology and solicit additional terms.
CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) vendors are also being encouraged to adopt UMTSN. Vendors interested in imbedding UMTSN in their programs may do so for free and questions on this subject should be directed to Louis Anzalone at lanzalone@ecri.org or (610) 825-6000, ext. 5188.
For more information about ECRI Institute's Universal Medical Technology Service Nomenclature or the Health Devices System, e-mail umtsn(at)ecri.org, call (610) 825-6000, ext. 5168, or write to us at ECRI Institute, 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA, 19462.
About ECRI Institute
ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to uncover the best approaches to improving patient care. As pioneers in this science for 40 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute is designated a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Visit www.ecri.org.
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