Technical note: Rationale, development, use and evaluation of an equipment management and image storage system.

Lack of space and organization have become significant problems in the contemporary business world. Modern industries must eliminate mountains of paper and better organize themselves. With the incorporation of a fully automated equipment management system and image storage system, the Jacobi Medical Center has succeeded in correcting these problems. This technical note shows how the use of computer software and hardware components can be integrated to manage electronic patient care equipment. The adoption of this new technology was applied to equipment maintenance, tracking and record-keeping, thereby accomplishing the aims of space conservation and organization. As the components became more advanced, the technology included computer software products that could store more information and electronically effect a more rapid document retrieval. This will eventually allow for a paperless operation. The latest available equipment management software is supported by an image storage system that may contain important signature documents and outside vendor information. The applicability of these systems to the biomedical engineering field is obvious: (a) space efficiency eliminates folders and files; (b) simultaneous technician access to equipment history; and (c) rapid archive retrieval of data as well as vendor information and safety alerts.