Development of Methodology of Evaluation for Medical Equipment Replacement for Developing Countries

摘要

Currently, decision-making in hospitals and health institutions in developing countries about the replacement or withdrawal of medical equipment mainly involves a series of subjective positions about the time at which these actions should be carried out. It is for the foregoing that not always have the technical, clinical or economic basis on the request for the withdrawal of any equipment. There are several quantitative methodologies in the world that evaluate a considerable amount of parameters about the equipment and with this determine the status in which it is, however, these methodologies are difficult to apply especially in the public healthcare system of countries in development due to the ranges of evaluation of the parameters are focused on countries that acquire the technology as it goes to market, or even are technology manufacturing countries. It is due to the above that in this project a methodology is designed to evaluate medical equipment so that it can be used in countries that do not have the degree of substitution of developed countries. It is hoped that with this methodology it will be possible to anticipate equipment obsolescence and make the corresponding substitution at the best time according to the possibilities of each institution, based on quantitative data. The methodology is based on the evaluation of eight parameters that include the technical, economic and clinical part of each equipment.