Recently reported by media sources around the world is the newly discovered fact exposing the Malaysia Airlines “battery lapse” on Flight 370. Malaysian Airlines has acknowledged the batteries within flight 370’s “black box” were expired and not replaced during a scheduled maintenance cycle. Clearly a serious oversight and appears to have been a strong contributor as to why the beacon “pinging” device had stopped working – if did it all! This recent horrific air industry accident and the maintenance lapse in battery replacement has prompted me to re-play this blog as a reminder to all HTM service professional’s just how important and reliant battery power plays when emergent situations present themselves.
Imbedded in most medical devices either life support or non-critical is a power source so important to its ability in functioning each and every time – the battery. This most crucial of medical device components or consumable, however one desires to characterize it tends to be one of the most misunderstood items when it comes to proactive maintenance planning in a periodic replacement schedule.
The question and debate as to best practices around battery maintenance can vary in the same context as is the glass half full or half empty! Some will refer to the medical devices recommended maintenance procedure (which is a good choice!) while others tend to lean towards home grown experiences or philosophies. Some follow the decision approach to change the battery only when it’s dead as a door nail! In this circumstance those people actual think they are saving money by running the power source bottle (a.k.a. battery) “dry”. What about the device downtime that would now be incurred? The disruption to patient care? Here’s one for you – maybe even endangering the patient because now the device may fail to operate safely and deliver as it was designed! This is a dangerous battery maintenance path especially when life support or invasive medical devices are involved and one should consider how “understanding they would be” if it were them or a loved one utilizing that device for their diagnosis or treatment and the battery failed in turn negatively impacting them in receiving medical attention. I don’t think they would be very understanding!
The variability and reasoning behind many of these philosophies is mind boggling to me. I mean we understand the need to change the battery in our home smoke and carbon monoxide detectors at least once or twice year. No one wants a fire in their home or a potential silent killer such as carbon monoxide lurking in the homestead. So why would we not change the battery in a defibrillator on a more routine basis? This is definitely a medical device that needs to function fully each and every time it is called upon!
In my opinion proactive battery replacement protocols are equally as important as the clinical alarm mandate of 2014 and beyond. Are we waiting for numerous patient harming events to occur which are battery related to get the attention of the community and drive the patient safety cry! I only hope it is not my loved one or I that have to suffer the unthinkable and become the harmed patient that” turns on the light bulb” to act on this claymore lying out there!
1 Comment
Al, I totally agree, Although battery and battery management systems have improved since most devices have transitioned away from NICAD, battery management is still very important. Even though improvements have been made, batteries and charging systems can still fail. Also, there are still many older devices in use. Battery management and maintenance in each type of device must be managed according to risk factors, OEM recommendations, failure history, usage, etc.
OEMs of some critical devices are starting to incorporate smart chargers and smart batteries which require replacement based on time, number of charge/discharge cycles and/or battery performance monitoring data. This will help tremendously. Batteries must be replaced when prompted because eventually the time between low battery warning and unit shut down will shorten to the point that they will occur at the same time. In the case of AEDs, battery charging is not an option. It must be replaced when warned.
I also want to mention that many devices also have a lithium battery that is used to maintain critical configuration, calibration, clock and user settings. It is important not neglect replacing them according to recommendations. When I was refurbishing units for resale, I would always replace them as a precautionary measure on older devices. Replacement method on some devices was critical to avoid having to call in factory service rep to reinstall configuration and software data.
Any choice to use batteries made by other than the OEM must be considered carefully and monitored and managed for performance deficiencies. Not all batteries are created equal. Some vendors are better than others. Although some aftermarket batteries can come close to OEM performance, any unusual failure or observed quality issue should be addressed appropriately (even with OEM batteries). The bottom line is BATTERY FAILURE SHOULD NEVER COMPROMISE A PATIENT’S HEALTH.