Identification of Suitable Maintenance Strategy for Medical Devices in UAE Healthcare Facilities

In the healthcare system, advanced medical devices such as ventilators, defibrillators, and dialysis machines are essential. Effective maintenance strategies are critical to ensure the continuous and safe operation of these devices. This study explores the use of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method to identify suitable maintenance strategies for ventilator devices in UAE intensive care units. A survey of healthcare professionals was conducted in the UAE, results identified nine key customer requirements, in which safety (5), and efficiency (4) prioritized higher than remaining attributes. These requirements were then mapped to technical maintenance solutions such as scheduled maintenance, spare parts management, emergency repair protocols, predictive analytics, and energy efficiency. The QFD results ranked spare parts management (138), and emergency repair protocols (96) as the first and second important technical requirements respectively. These requirements fall under preventive and corrective maintenance strategies. Therefore, the possible strategies should be implemented to ensure the efficiency and safety of ventilators in healthcare system. Prioritizing preventive maintenance protocols can enhance the operational efficiency and reliability of ventilator devices, which is crucial for patient safety in UAE healthcare facilities.