Off-hour support : A feasibility study of support beyond office hours in medical technology

Sammanfattning: Healthcare demands staff working around-the-clock for their patients. Healthcare staff is increasingly dependent on technology for performing their profession in the most adequate way possible. However, technology fails occasionally, and thus requires service. As medicine is increasingly dependent on technical device, there is also an increasing need for support beyond office hours. The current service-level agreements at Philips imaging systems and patient monitoring systems include service during office hours. In this project, the need of expanding the hours, in which support is offered, is investigated. The project is carried out through interviews with medical technicians and users of the medical device. The respondents include technicians and clinicians working with medical imaging and patient monitoring, respectively. The aim is to map the need for off-hour support, e.g. support during evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. The results show that there is a need for off-hour support. However, the need differs depending on the receiver of the support.