engleski

Safety in clinical environment - the role of clinical engineers

Modern technology, especially electronics and computer science, enables rapid advancing in medical diagnostics and therapy. Patient safety, i.e. the protection from possible, unwanted electrical hazards through connection to medical devices, is regulated by different, application specific standards. Those devices are tested at approved institutions, according to corresponding standards. Though reliable and nearly perfect, devices are subject to malfunctions. Inaccurate or partially accurate devices are twofold dangerous: directly, through possible electrical hazards and indirectly, by incorrect information which may cause wrong diagnosis. Those facts lead to the necessity of regular checking of medical electrical equipment. In developed countries and in Croatia, it is an obligation according to the law. Our objective in this paper is to alert health care professionals to existing hazards and to point out the possibility for providing protection against hazards through efficient clinical engineering organization.

safety; electromedical equipment; clinical engineering; standards; CE education

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