I find that many departments are not documenting their work very completely these days. There are many tips and tricks to making your CMMS work for you. But it all starts with getting good, consistent information into it. Here is a memo I sent to my staff in January 2004. It was instructing them how to document their time, with documentation goals, and reasons why we need complete history records. The entire memo is just as applicable today as it was 12 years ago. I hope you’ll read it and adopt some of the thoughts in it, if you haven’t already.
Documentation of Activities and Costs in the CMMS
It is important that all activities concerning patient care equipment be documented in the CMMS. There are several reasons for this among them are:
• Risk Management – to document scheduled and unscheduled maintenance activities in the case of an incident;
• “Lemons” – to identify equipment that is costing the hospital an unusual amount of money and/or time to keep operational and to identify lemons;
• Financial – to enable accurate costs of operations to be calculated for various departments, programs, hospitals and other ventures of Northside Hospital for purposes of budgeting and/or chargeback;
• Human Resources – to prove to administration that staff time is being used wisely, and to provide documentation when additional staff is required; and
• Servicing Decisions – to evaluate the effectiveness of outside service versus in-house maintenance of various items.
Examples of documentable activities include:
• Preventive or Scheduled Maintenance, which might consist of electrical safety testing, calibration, performance verification, and output testing;
• Repairs which might include adjustment, replacement of broken or damaged parts, calibration, or cleaning. Repair time includes incoming inspection, which may include assembly; in-service; education to staff; and anything else related to equipment, or to the use of your time.
How to document your time
Time in the CMMS must be documented in the following order, with the first being the most desirable:
• Against an ID number which is physically attached to a piece of equipment. This is always best if the activity is related directly to that item.
• Project Number – major projects will be assigned a project number beginning with the letters PR.
• System Number – All items which are classified as Systems will be assigned a System ID Number. Assign work performed on the ENTIRE system, or work which cannot be accurately assigned to one component.
• Against a ZZ number. The ZZ numbers are the “catch-all” numbers. Each department or cost center had a ZZ number. It is identified in the CMMS as “Department Note.” All activity which is related to a cost center, but maybe not applicable to an item of equipment may be documented against the ZZ number.
• Non-work order number – Assign activities which defy categories A, B or C above. This will be PTO, education, or other non-equipment related work.
Timing – All activities for a month must be entered by the 10th of the next month.
Goals
Our goal is to document everything done to equipment. All operator errors. All monies spent. All training we give or receive. All of our hours. People with management responsibilities will be excused from much of the documentation requirements.
Specific goals
BMET I – At this level, most work should be equipment related. Typical documentation should be above 80 percent of paid hours. Of this 80 percent, half (or 40 percent of the total) should be direct equipment hours (PM or repair or project). The rest should be parts management, training, PTO, etc.
BMET II – This position too is largely task oriented. Documentation should be above 80% of total paid hours. Of this 80 percent, three-fourths (60 percent of the total) should be direct equipment hours (PM or repair or project.) The rest may be training, education, in-service given, or PTO, etc.
BMET III – This position involves lots of walking and travel throughout the facility, and to other sites. Documentation should be above 80 percent of paid hours. Of this 80 percent, three-fourths (60 percent of the total) should be direct equipment hours (PM, repairs, or project). The rest may be training, education, in-service given, or PTO, etc.
Specialists (Lab, Anesthesia, Imaging Engineer, Senior Imaging Engineer) – Documentation should be above 80 percent of paid hours. Of this 80 percent, two-thirds (50 percent of the total) should be direct equipment hours (PM, repair or project.). The rest may be training, parts management, in-service, or PTO, etc.
Supervisors (Biomedical or Imaging) – Since these positions have significant supervisory and strategic responsibilities, goals for these will be established individually.
Everyone will document all equipment-related activities.
Financial
No equipment may be moved between facilities without updating the CMMS and completing the proper transfer forms for the accounting department. All costs will be collected in the CMMS. This includes in-house labor; parts (from stock or special order); PM kits and parts; service contract labor; fee-for-service PMs; fee-for-service repairs; and costs associated with equipment sent out for repair.
Responsibilities for input of costs:
Each BMET or Engineer – In-house labor and parts installed by the biomed department, whether in a repair, project or during a PM.
Secretary – Service contract costs, FFS PMs, FFS repairs and items sent out for repair (scopes, etc.).
