Y2K

30 Pages 7430 Words

’t schedule elective surgeries. That’s what experts are advising hospitals do to get through the Y2K rollover as risk-free as possible” (p. 1). The main concern is with critical equipment such as monitoring devices that records vital signs and other life sustaining equipment. Some facilities may choose to avoid elective procedures for a week or even a month to ensure the date rolls over and the equipment is still functioning properly. Patients who will be in the hospital attached to critical date sensitive equipment when the date rolls over will be under careful observation. Joel Noble, MD (1999) advises hospitals to cancel leave for staff members and make sure that every patient attached to a critical machine has an individual monitoring them.
Allegiance Healthcare (1999) states “As health-care providers grapple with the complexities of Y2K readiness, there is an emerging concern about the uninterrupted availability of products to deliver care”. Many medical facilities are concerned with the manufacturer and the distribution partner being able to meet current inventory levels, which may cause them to purchase additional inventory to minimize the risk. The manufacturers and distribution partners on the other hand are concerned with the additional inventory levels that some facilities may order. Manufacturers forecast future inventory levels based on historical usage and without having adequate information to build additional inventory a backorder situation is very likely. S. Wayne Kay from the Health Industry Distributor Association (HIDA) reported in Health Care Distributor “Stockpiling or hoarding of medical supplies is very likely to cause artificial shortages of medical supplies”. Based on these concerns hospitals are making decisions that will impact medical supply manufacturers.
As part of an ongoing effort to stay on the cutting edge of medical supply manufacturing, Equiptek Industries formed a Y2K ...