Though Charlton Heston may not be parting the “seas” of medical equipment service events and the many pathways they can be recorded. The strongest link in any service organization chain is the timely and accurate completion of documenting the service event. Yes, the dreaded paperwork portion of the service technician or engineers daily grind. This task which perplexes all of us no matter who or what level of database resource we utilize in this most important of HTM job responsibilities.
Whatever the technology used – computerized or paper it still requires human intervention to tell the story from start to finish. That story and its detail is more than just words – it is a panoramic picture of an event timeline. The discovery and critical thinking phases leading to resolution which become a recording – a moment of history if you will in the life of the medical device.
The importance of accurate service event recordings are far reaching and an invaluable piece of history that can and often are leaned back to when troubleshooting a problem, piecing together an occurrence or trending best practices in caring for a medical device. The ability to query, retrieve and present service history upon request is a cornerstone of any service providers program. The content and accuracy of that history can be the difference in so many ways in validating compliance and that standards are accountable.
Well however you take your service notes be it pad of paper, index card, smart phone voice memo or two tablets made of stone and translate them into the service report. Always remember, being able to express your service event message so that anyone reading it can clearly understand it and all that occurred in bringing solution. Taking the time to assure good grammar and event accuracy noted well in the service report is as critical and maybe the most important part of the service call itself. When you least expect it the service report you filed those many years ago and forgot about could someday be projected on a courtroom screen for the world to view and judge!