Ensure Quality Health Care Calibrating Biomedical Equipment at Regular Intervals

There’s a whole range of businesses that deal with and use biomedical equipment every day, from dentists to GP’s, tattooists and nursing homes, and there’s an even greater amount of people who are subjected to this biomedical equipment every day for diagnosis, treatment and assistance. So, biomedical equipment calibration is incredibly important from a moral, technological, medical and legal standpoint as it should be in full working order, safe to use, and calibrated to the highest level of accuracy.

Calibration defines the accuracy and quality of measurements recorded using a piece of equipment. Over time there is a tendency for results and accuracy to ‘drift’ particularly when using particular technologies or measuring particular parameters such as temperature and humidity. To be confident in the results being measured there is an ongoing need to maintain the calibration of equipment throughout its lifetime for reliable, accurate and repeatable measurements. The goal of biomedical equipment calibration is to minimize any measurement uncertainly by ensuring the accuracy of test equipment. Calibration quantifies and controls errors or uncertainties within measurement processes to an acceptable level.

Why biomedical equipment calibration is necessary?

The calibration of biomedical equipment and devices to determine their accuracy and efficiency is very crucial to an effective and efficient national health delivery system. If calibration of the equipment is not taken seriously, it will give wrong results that will lead to wrong prescriptions by doctors.  Differences in results due to inaccurate readings raise a number of questions, namely, requirements for laboratory accommodation and environmental conditions, maintenance of laboratory equipment, examination and post-examination procedures and the format for reporting among others.

Biomedicalequipment calibration is important for two main reasons. First, it ensures that users of the equipment rely on accurate measurement results. Second, it increases customer confidence and quality assurance. It is important that these medical devices are calibrated on a regular basis, meaning that they should be regularly compared with a measurement standard to find out how far they deviate from the standard. This helps to establish the relationship between the value indicated by a measuring device or measuring system and the corresponding standard or known values derived from the standard. For better health services biomedical equipment should be calibrated in an effective and efficient manner at regular intervals.