I see from searching the archives that this topic was
addressed for a time in January 2003 but I couldn't
find specific answers to my questions.

We are having a JACHO (sp??) survey in August and
during a staff meeting the question came up as to how
often should we be documenting the cleaning and
suction testing of the floor pumps.

We have about 12 refurbished Ameda SMB pumps on stands
that wheel from room to room.  The pumps are
identified by large numerals which are matched to
their serial number and also to a special hospital
number affixed by our bio-med department when they are
first put into service.

Each year, bio-med tests them and affixes an updated
sticker but we wanted to know if there is a certain
schedule or protocol that should be followed for
testing  suction levels and for cleaning them on a
more regular basis.

Also does anyone have a decent way to track those
missing pumps and find them throughout the hospital?

We used to use some of our electronic baby tags but
had to stop because of constant false alarms (the
floor RNs and Security were tearing their hair out)
and the fact that the tags were designed for babies
and we were using them for a non-authorized purpose.  

For the last year I have had a wonderful assistant
interning with me on a volunteer basis and for
"payback" she would help me track the pumps on a
weekly basis and test and clean them. But she sits her
IBCLC exam in July and will no longer work with me
after that.  

Tracking those pumps can take hours and does not
really require a skilled, highly paid RN /IBCLC - but
someone needs to take ownership of the job and our
central supply department is just not up to the task. 
Several years ago they were assigned 2 pumps that were
supposed to go out to the general hospital units and
they lost them :-(
It would be great if we could install some sort of
beeper or homing device that would sound out loud and
help us to track those suckers (pun intended) down.

Does anyone have an inventor friend / relative that
could put their active little brain cells to work on
this problem? I'm sure that their device would be in
great demand for other items throughout large
institutions, not just hospitals.
 
Cathy Loughman RN IBCLC





__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html