One of the most common complaints from surgeons in operating rooms is, “There is not enough suction present.” Most of the time this isn’t the fault of the central vacuum system itself, but rather the failure to maintain the suction canisters and the lines associated with them. When canisters are not emptied in a timely manner, the vacuum lines can become occluded with debris.
EMGS, Inc. offers vacuum line cleaning services for this problem. Please contact us today for more information. 770-459-5920.
Earlier this year EMGS was given the privilege of having the opportunity to travel overseas to Bagram Air Field near Kabul, Afghanistan to inspect the medical gas System at SSG Heathe N. Craig Joint Theater Hospital. We have done many jobs on military bases here in the United States, but being able to go to a forward operating base was truly an experience that I will never forget, and one that I am truly grateful for.
This facility obviously has many hurdles that typical hospitals would never even imagine having to overcome due to its location and the type of patients it serves, but I want to focus on two of them: the ability to produce and store oxygen in a remote location, and the ability to maintain a vacuum system in the environment and climate in which the facility is located.
Craig Joint Theater Hospital (CJTH) is located approximately 50 mile from Kabul, Afghanistan. There are no oxygen production facilities anywhere near here, and in order to maintain a reliable oxygen system to serve the facility they had to utilize an oxygen generation system. Essentially, they take air and filter out the nitrogen and other elements in order to increase the oxygen content of the gas. As they compress the gas it is pushed through filters increasing the percentage of oxygen. The oxygen content would top out between 91-93% as opposed to the typical 99.5-99.9% coming off of Oxygen bulk tanks here in the States. In order to have a back up system the facility would use this gas to fill standard “H” cylinders and hook them up to emergency headers. As you can imagine this system is quite large and requires a tremendous amount of energy to function.
The facility also has a constant fight to maintain the vacuum pump systems. The systems face two obstacles at all times. The fine dust and dirt in the area that the hospital is located, and the fact that the hospital is located nearly 5000 ft. above sea level. The pumps themselves required maintenance at more regular intervals than typical systems due to the dust, and there is a higher stress load on the pumps because of the altitude. At close to 5000 ft. above sea level the correction factor for the vacuum load is 20% more than a system at sea level.
The facility was designed with these challenges and many others in mind. The typical medical gas system has redundancies built in to ensure that a medical gas is never totally lost, but CJTH takes this to another level. The facility has two sets of source equipment with each one serving half of the hospital. They have an intricate system in which they can feed the entire facility from either set of source equipment.
With all of the additional obstacles that a facility like this one faces it was clear to see that the prevention of a loss of medical gas to the patient was something that was of high priority.
Did you know that we offer online medical gas reporting for our customers? This service is available to all of our customers by requesting a secure login. Benefits include easy and quick viewing of reports, testing history, and searchable fields that quickly locate a specific room or piece of equipment to its’ activity. All service calls, quotes, reports, and any other transaction that has occurred between EMGS and a facility is recorded within this online system for seamless record keeping.
Contact us today to request a demo and/or login! 770-459-5920.
As part of the ASSE 6010 Medical Gas Installer Course, proper brazing procedures are taught.
It is rare that an individual will braze a successful horizontal and vertical coupon on the first try. Reasons for failure include:
-Improper sequence of feeding the rod into the coupling
- Improper amount of heat to cause the melted rod material to flow to the center of the coupling by capillary action, or the proper amount of heat in the wrong place on the coupling (i.e. the edge of the coupling is hotter than the center of the coupling).
- Improper position of the rod while feeding it into the coupling.
- Improper position of the torch while heating the coupling/piping assembly and while feeding the rod into the edge of the coupling.
- Improper amount of rod being fed into the edge of the coupling (not enough rod to fill the coupling).
-Improper amount of time spent doing the coupling.
We recommend practicing the procedure prior to attending an exam session. We offer a DVD of the brazing procedure, available in English or Spanish, for $20.00 plus applicable taxes and shipping costs. We can send a DVD to you at anytime.
EMGS has an almost perfect pass rate for students taking the practical brazing exam, and this is directly related to our method. Please contact us at 770-459-5920 if you wish to become certified to install medical gas, or would like to order a DVD on the correct brazing procedure.
The 2012 edition of NFPA 99 has added a new paragraph section for medical gas maintenance programs (Para. 5.1.14.2.2). Schedules for these maintenance programs are to be established by the individuals responsible for risk assessment in the facilities, in conjunction with the equipment manufacturer’s recommendations. Inspection procedures should be in place for each facility to insure that these schedules are being followed to maintain an appropriate level of patient care and to avoid costly equipment failures.
There are some recommendations for inspection and testing operations for specific pieces of medical gas equipment, as well as suggested intervals for these operations to occur. The 2012 edition of NFPA 99 has also addressed qualifications for persons maintaining these types of systems, suggesting three ways in which appropriate qualifications can be demonstrated. These ways include training and certification through the health care facility, credentialing to the requirements of ASSE 6030, and/or credentialing to the requirements of ASSE 6040. While actual “hands on training” is a very important factor in qualifying maintenance personnel, the ASSE standards raise awareness in many areas of safety, documentation, and procedures which could otherwise be overlooked.
EMGS has been conducting classes for compliance with the ASSE standards for several years in a facility designed to insure these issue are addressed. Contact Caroline Darden at caroline@emgsi.com for further information on training your maintenance personnel, and obtaining the ASSE 6040 credential.
Effective Immediately EMGS, Inc. offers ASSE 6000 Series training courses through a third party testing organization called National Inspection Testing Certification (NITC). NITC credentials are recognized in every state. NITC recently revised their candidate bulletins.
The most notable changes are the minimum passing scores for an ASSE 6010 Installer, which has increased from a 75% to a 77%, and the minimum passing score for an ASSE 6020 Inspector, which has gone from an 85% to an 80%. Also, the applications used to sign up for exams have been revised.
We have updated our website to reflect these changes, and all of the new candidate bulletins and applications can be found at www.nationalitc.com. Prior to signing up for any classes, it is beneficial to review the candidate bulletins and application procedures. We are always available to assist with your questions or concerns regarding these matters.
NFPA 99 defines the medical gas systems for all healthcare facilities based on a number of factors all related to the safety of the patients who are connected to them. Each medical gas “system” from the source equipment to the outlet/inlet termination point can be placed into one of three categories or “levels”. The least stringent requirements are applicable to Level 3 facilities which are typically (but not necessarily always) dental facilities.
One of the requirements for the oxygen and nitrous oxide piping systems for Level 3 facilities is that the line sizes for each of these gases be different so as to clearly distinguish separation of the piping systems as they are routed throughout the facility. Para. 5.3.10.10.3 of the 2005 edition of NFPA 99 dictates a minimum line size of (NPS 3/8” or ½” OD) for oxygen systems and (NPS ¼” or 3/8” OD) for nitrous oxide systems. The intent of this distinction is to prevent cross connection of these two gases as explained in Para. A.5.3.10.10.3. Most of these source systems (manifolds) are manufactured as a common enclosure for both gases, with two copper feed lines extending out from the top of the enclosure. Sometimes these feed lines are the same line size, which can be confusing, especially if these lines are not correctly labeled.
Recently, (March 2009) a terrible accident occurred in Togonoxie, KS when a patient in a dental office was given nitrous oxide gas instead of oxygen, as a practitioner intended. According to news reports, this mistake was due to the “incorrect connection of the medical gas lines.” The full article on this medical gas mishap can be viewed at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/apr/22/medical-gas-accident-may-lead-policy-change/
EMGS, Inc. is pleased to announce its’ recent contracts with two international companies to provide medical gas training. Both sessions will take place in 2011 in Central and Latin American countries. Our training material has been translated from English to Spanish to better serve these clients, and we look forward to establishing and building upon this international relationship.
The need for medical gas training is global. The importance of proper installation and inspection services is paramount anywhere in the world. If you enjoy traveling, take into consideration that accidents and illness can happen anytime, anywhere. While a trip to the hospital is not on anyone’s vacation itinerary, if you did end up in a hospital, you would hope that the facility operates under appropriate safety standards. EMGS, Inc. strives to teach safety standards and elevate the importance of the medical gas industry so that we all benefit.
We look forward to further training opportunities, both domestic and international.
Lokring Technology offers a permanent, axially swaged fitting for medical gas applications that is approved by NFPA 99C 2005 (Paragraph 5.1.10.7 (4)).
The leak-free seal is the result of elastic strain preload technology where the axial movement of the LOKRING driver over the body swages the body onto the tube’s surface forming a 360 degree circumferential permanent metal-to-metal seal.
The installation of LOKRING Medical Gas fittings takes minimal time since no brazing and nitrogen purging are required, thus reducing costs and most importantly minimizing patient disruption.
EMGS, Inc. is the only authorized Lokring distributor in the state of Georgia. Lokring technology is approved by NFPA 99C and is a great solution for medical gas tie-ins in sensitive locations throughout the hospital, i.e. ICU. Contact EMGS for additional information regarding Lokring fittings and installation training classes.
Click here to see the LOKRING Medical Gas Fitting Brochure
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Medical gas master alarms are among the most crucial pieces of equipment in a healthcare facility. They monitor life saving gases such as oxygen, nitrous oxide, medical air, etc. The Joint Commission and other regulatory agencies have moved the master alarm system for medical gases to the top of their list when addressing areas of concern. In other words, if you have a problem with your medical gas master alarms, you need to fix it quickly. Problems or deficiencies with these alarms present a distinct hazard to patient safety and must be dealt with.
The issue within most facilities is that the alarm systems, or at least the wiring is very old. So while other portions of the system have been upgraded, the master alarms are still operating on an antiquated copper wire system that may not meet the current specifications for the newer alarm panels. The other issue is that hospital ceilings are full, very full, with little room to run additional conduit and wire, making the addition of alarm panels in different locations costly and time consuming.
There is another way…ethernet. Your hospital has it, every hospital has it, most houses even have it! Ethernet is a scalable technology that is likely kept up to date by your IT department. At EMGS, we have the expertise to work with your IT department and utilize your existing infrastructure to provide you with a master alarm anywhere you have a computer with an intranet connection to your facility’s network. This is all accomplished via the Amico AIMS Ethernet solution.
EMGS recently completed this project at Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, Ga. They had a need for a master alarm in their engineering annex building, but running new wire all the way to that building was going to be difficult due to the crowded ceilings and having to traverse buildings. We implemented the Amico AIMS Ethernet solution, and now they have a touchscreen panel (pictured to the right) that shows them in real time the status of all of their master alarms for the facility. They also get an e-mail notification any time an alarm goes off, thereby creating a log of alarms and notifying the appropriate staff.
If you have medical gas master alarm issues, take heart, they aren’t as bad as they seem. They can be resolved and it can be done with less of a headache than you think. Give us a call and we will work with you to create a solution that is perfect for your facility.
