Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Hospital maintenance and maintenance management is a new area which has recently been given more attention. It has special importance in developing countries where its economic aspects necessitates specific planning.

In Iran, maintenance and problems associated with it have been considered to some extent in industry and related areas. However, it has not yet been given adequate attention in the health community, especially in hospitals. The present study was carried out to determine the maintenance conditions in five general hospitals during the year 1993-1994 with the use of descriptive method.

The required information was collected through questionnaires and checklists.

Due to inadequate accounting and financial records, we could not obtain exact figures concerning expenses in all these centers.

Also, it was found that there were no experts for repairing and maintenance of medical and non-medical tools and equipment in aI/ five hospitals under study. Furthermore, none of the fol/owing areas has been taken into account in these hospitals:

1.   Maintenance training

2.   Maintenance committee

3.Instructions for controlling and checking the equipment before they are used.

4.    Written instructions for maintenance

5.   Personnel's responsibility in protecting and maintenance equipment

6.   Providing a file for maintenance of the hospital building and equipments.