Assessing The Factors Affecting Maintenance of Medical Equipment at The Kenema Government Hospital, Sierra Leone

Abstract

The maintenance of medical equipment is one of the major factors that enhance healthcare quality and decrease costs around the world. Proper maintenance of medical devices guarantees assistance, reliability,  and efficiency, which are vital for effective healthcare service in resource-limited nations. The failure of properly effective systems of maintenance has caused significant damage to the care high-resource hospitals provide. With proper planning, the managed system has many advantages, including the reduction of maternal, neonatal, and under-five deaths; improved service delivery; and reduction in waste of the limited resources by minimizing the purchase of costly new equipment. This study assesses the factors affecting the maintenance of medical equipment at the Kenema Government Hospital, Sierra Leone. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods in a descriptive cross-sectional design. Data was collected through the administration of a research questionnaire to 315 healthcare workers at Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) and an in-depth interview with 10 members of the KGH administration. Inadequate funding (38%), lack of skilled personnel, inadequate training, and poorly structured maintenance management systems (22%) were identified as the major limiting factors influencing equipment maintenance at KGH. Furthermore, the lack of adequately qualified biomedical personnel (100%) emerged as a significant limitation. The findings also illustrate that these limiting factors have an understated takeaway on operational efficiency and patient care, as 100% equipment downtime impacts patient flow and degrades the quality of the care received. Lastly, the analysis exposed the hospital's over-dependence on corrective maintenance approaches (63% of the time) instead of preventive maintenance. The study recommends that, in order to overcome these challenges and improve the operational functionality, safety, and performance of medical equipment and consequently patient care at KGH, additional resources for maintenance activities, trained biomedical engineers, and a structured preventive maintenance program should be taken into consideration.