It has been claimed that the financial health of a hospital can achieve a significant contribution from increasing the productivity of its clinical engineering department. However, the overemphasis on cost-effectiveness could be harmful if the risk that might arise from using medical equipment is not properly handled. The first objective of this research is to study clinical engineering in Palestine and evaluate the degree of compliance with international guidelines for medical instrumentation maintenance programs. Descriptive questionnaires and structured interviews were used to evaluate the constructs and variables. The result of evaluation showed a low degree of compliance with both Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation guidelines. The second objective is to suggest a maintenance model for minimizing the risk and optimizing the cost-effectiveness of medical equipment. The elements of both risk management and cost-effectiveness were evaluated together with the role of medical equipment suppliers. The results showed a poor overall performance and lack of effective procedures regarding risk and costs of maintenance programs. Therefore, the proposed model has been revised to suit clinical engineering departments in Palestinian hospitals.
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