scba,
<A bit shocked though, to learn of the defibulators for heart attacks on "the floor" of the NYSE.>
Saw your comment in the Clubhouse, and thought I'd share this:
Known medical devices with Year 2000 problems, which may not work properly:
- Anesthesia monitors
- Fetal monitors
- MRI machine
- Infusion pumps in intravenous drips
- Heart defibrillators
- Pacemakers
- Intensive care monitors
- CT scans
- Dialysis, chemotherapy and radiation equipment
- Laboratory, radiology and other diagnostic systems
ALL devices must be individually tested. The same brand, batch /date, model can have differences in the Y2K compliancy of the individual units.
dpweb1.dp.utexas.edu
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Hospital Computers are Unprepared for the Next Century
CHICAGO(February 25, 1997) - The Third Annual Healthcare Technology Survey, released today by information technology law firm Gordon & Glickson P.C., reveals that many hospitals have not addressed the host of computer problems expected to accompany the date change to the year 2000.
According to the nationwide survey of 1,700 hospitals, fewer than one-third of the respondents have developed a strategy to prepare their computing systems for the new millennium, and only one in five has begun implementation of a plan to counteract the so-called "Millennium Bug." Eighteen percent of respondents are planning no action to protect their systems.
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STATEMENT FROM RX2000 SOLUTIONS INSTITUTE:
Health care has some fundamental characteristics and Year 2000 issues that set it apart from many other industries. We face some unique challenges, including some potentially life threatening issues that may arise from the Year 2000 problem.:
Health care is the largest industry in the U.S. Yet it is a diverse and fragmented industry consisting of some large players (e.g., insurance, managed care, and health care delivery organizations) and going all the way down to individual providers of care. We do not have a "Big 3" to drive the Year 2000 compliance efforts for the industry.
Virtually all of these players have a Year 2000 problem whether they realize it or not. It cannot be ignored, yet it needs to be addressed differently by different players.
The health care community is tightly intertwined with many organizational interdependencies. Physicians rely on hospitals. Hospitals rely on physicians, labs, medical devices, pharmaceutical and other health care supply organizations, ambulances, utility companies, food and linen suppliers, etc.
Most health care organizations are able to absorb a small number of delays and equipment or service breakdowns. They are not designed or staffed to survive a large number of systems or supplier problems occurring at the same time. For example, significant delays in food, linen, or medical supply deliveries could quickly impact quality of care and possibly shut down the hospital.
In many areas, the health care delivery system has been reduced in size (e.g., number of hospitals and beds), and cannot easily absorb a significant number of organizational failures in the local community.
The health care system relies heavily upon dates and time intervals. Care plans, dosages, lab results, reminder notices, expiration dates, etc. all depend upon accurate calculations.
Some medical devices have already demonstrated that they will shut down or malfunction as a result of Year 2000 issues. The problem at this point is that we do not know which devices will continue to operate normally, which ones will shut down or fail in obvious ways, and which ones will appear to operate normally while producing erroneous results (this last category may be the most dangerous of all).
As of this writing (Nov '97), most health care organizations have done little or nothing to prepare for Year 2000 or to address the organizational and care threatening issues.
A health care community wake-up call is needed, and yet when the community does wake up to the issues, it may be too late to find resources or adequately deal with the issues before January 1, 2000.
It is becoming obvious that quality of care will be impacted. We don't know how much, or when the problems will start. The potential exists for unnecessary deaths resulting from Year 2000 issues, but we don't know if that is a small potential or a near certainty. No organization has ever had to deal with this problem before, and the true extent of the problem and the effectiveness of corrective actions has not been demonstrated.
For these reasons, the founders of the Rx2000 Solutions Institute became very concerned about health care's ability to adequately deal with the Year 2000 issues.
Rx2000 Solutions Institute (Non-Profit)
The Institute was created by a group of professionals concerned about the potential impact the Year 2000 business and systems issues could have upon health care. We are concerned about quality of care as well as the business viability of health care organizations.
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This is from my "book" I've been working on for my friends & family to help make them understand the seriousness of this whole Y2K embedded systems issue.
Cheryl |
