Medical equipment: Any equipment intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other condition or for use in the life support and monitoring of patients in the study hospitals which included chemistry a analyzer, electrolyte analyzer, hematology analyzer, coagulation analyzer, PCR machine, ELISA machine, microscopy, centrifuges, CD4 count machine, X-ray Machine, Ultrasound machine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), CT scan, ECG Monitor, ventilators, Anesthesia machine, ABGA machine, corneal topography, and Visual Yag III laser system.
Use coefficient (UC): UC was applied to assess the utilization of equipment, ie, whether the equipment was optimally utilized or underutilized. It was measured by the following formula; UC = (A × B/C × D) × 100, where, A is the number of days, the medical diagnostic equipment was actually used during for 12 months from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021. B is the number of hours the equipment was actually used on a working day during the 12-month period from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021 (average time taken by a procedure by that equipment average number of procedures performed on a working day). “C” is the number of days the medical diagnostic equipment could have been available (if the equipment was put in working order). For this, the total number of working days in 12 months from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021, was found out as mentioned above. “D” is the number of hours the medical equipment could have been available on a working day (if the equipment was put in working order).19 To assess the UC of the equipment, the working hours of the study hospitals were recorded. If the UC is ˂50%, it is considered to be underutilized and hence a bad investment due to inefficient utilization.3 (link)
Efficient utilization: If the percentage of the average number of hours the medical equipment was used per day divided by the maximum number of hours the equipment could be used per day in study hospitals was ≥50% for the past 12 months from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
Equipment related factors: Any factors that were expected to be inherited from the selected medical equipment in the study hospitals and could affect the efficient utilization of the equipment for the past 12 months from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
Institutional related factors: Any factors related to the study referral hospitals that could affect the efficient utilization of the selected equipment in the study hospitals for the past 12 months, from July 01, 2020, to June 30, 2021.
Professional operated related factors: Any factors related to the professional personnel in charge of operating the medical equipment that could have an impact on the efficient utilization of the selected equipment in study hospitals over the previous 12 months, from July 01, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
