Fostering a “safety culture” is the guiding principle behind Fluke Biomedical and RaySafe, a Fluke Biomedical company. Leaders in their respective industries for several decades, the companies have supported health care providers, institutions, and medical device manufacturers with a complete portfolio of test equipment, designed to ensure the safety of medical and diagnostic imaging equipment, and conversely, the well-being of patients.
“We are the market leaders globally in medical devices testing and quality assurance,” comments Eric Conley, General Manager for Fluke Biomedical. “Our fundamental mission, however, is to help make the hospital environment as safe as possible for patients and medical staff. We do this by identifying issues with medical devices before they’re used for treatment, and by alerting hospital staff to potential and actual radiation exposure.”
Fluke Biomedical has a long history of keeping hospital patients and staff safe. Our Raysafe solutions help hospitals minimize radiation exposure, which can lead to short- and long-term health deterioration. The RaySafe X2 is a cutting-edge diagnostic imaging QA solution. This innovative solution minimizes the need for user interface by pairing a handheld base unit with a touchscreen interface, and series of sensors to easily and accurately measure the radiation from R/F, MAM, CT, Survey, Light, and mAs applications.
“Simplicity, usability, and safety along with the ability to effortlessly measure X-ray is what distinguishes the X2 from other diagnostic imaging solutions,” explains Mats Alm, Senior Manager, RaySafe. “Taking radiation safety a step further, we developed the i2 active dosimetry system to provide physicians and other medical personnel with real-time insights about their radiation exposure.”
Along with producing a full-line of radiation quality assurance solutions, including phantoms for performing image quality on digital and analog radiography and fluoroscopic X-ray systems, RaySafe is dedicated to customer education. Their core message is the “ABCs for a Radiation Safety Culture,” which espouses avoidance, behavior and control.
Several years ago, RaySafe worked with the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). At the time, some of the physicians in their high-dose labs had annual doses in excess of 4 rem – which is just shy of the 5 rem legal limit. The corrective measures taken included the addition and repair of shielding, modification of training programs, and adoption of real-time personal dose monitoring systems. As a result of these corrective measures, the collective dose at URMC was reduced by 50 percent in the first full year of implementation.
Implemented at URMC was the RaySafe i2, a real-time dosimetry system that records the radiation exposure of medical staff, who are equipped with clip-on dosimeters. The touch-screen dose dashboard enables physicians, technologists and nurses to visualize their radiation exposure in real-time and thereby change their behavior to lower it.
Helping medical staff and biomedical professionals improve their skills is important to Fluke Biomedical, which is why they introduced Advantage Training. This free training follows the curriculum developed together with the University of Vermont for their Medical Equipment Technology program.
“The ability to access the training from anywhere at any time supports our commitment to helping biomedical professionals from around the world strengthen their skills, and also learn about the latest medical test devices,” explains Jerry Zion, Fluke Biomedical Global Training Manager. Over 3,000 professionals have registered and taken Advantage Training courses since July, 2015. Most recently, Zion conducted in-person training sessions in India and Indonesia, showcasing Fluke Biomedical’s most recently introduced products.
Launched in January, the INCU II Incubator/Radiant Warmer Analyzer is an all-in-one solution, which provides everything biomedical technicians need to easily and efficiently test infant incubators, portable incubators and radiant warmers. The compact 3-pound unit can simultaneously measure relative humidity, airflow, sound, and temperature at six points, using five independently movable sensors and one k-type thermocouple for measuring contact temperature. An informative webinar about the INCU II Incubator/Radiant Warmer Analyzer can be viewed online at www.1TechNation.com/webinars
In February, the QA-ES III Electrosurgical Analyzer was introduced. This next generation electrosurgical analyzer has a generator output accuracy as low as ±5 percent, making it ideal for preventive maintenance and safety testing of all modern high-power electrosurgical units. Its eight multi-purpose ports can be accessed from the front, making it convenient to collect all measurements, including vessel sealing, patent return, contact quality monitor (CQM), high- frequency (HF) leakage, output power and power distribution measurements in single or continuous mode.
The key challenge for Fluke Biomedical is the need to be highly agile in rapidly changing markets. Emerging countries recognize the need to apply the same rigor to testing their medical device infrastructures as developed countries. Simultaneously, the global medical device regulatory environment is dynamic, some countries like China have more stringent standards, while other countries are moving toward more consistency.
To maintain its leadership position, Fluke Biomedical has acquired great companies and increased its investment in new products development.
“We combined the best Fluke Biomedical and RaySafe in the medical quality and safety market to ensure our technology offerings meet customers’ expectations,” says Conley. “We also depend on a dedicated sales team and partners to develop long-term relationships with customers. Their goal isn’t simply to sell products, but also to deeply understand our customers’ needs. Every day we help independent service organizations rapidly branch into new areas, hospital biomedical departments asked to do more with less, and manufacturers needing cutting-edge equipment to test medical devices under development.”
Fluke Biomedical continues to invest in outstanding customer service to help customers through the entire cycle of ownership. If a customer calls with a potential issue, an engineer is often brought into the conversation to help troubleshoot and find a solution. From these interactions, applications notes are developed and shared with the broader biomedical community.
With the emphasis on fostering and supporting a safety culture to make a positive impact on health care throughout the world, the future is bright for Fluke Biomedical.
“Our mission shows a commitment to customers, to the health community, and patients everywhere. We deliver on that commitment by providing the best and most reliable quality assurance solutions to make medical equipment safer to use,” Conley concludes.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
about Fluke Biomedical, visit www.flukebiomedical.com