Medical Gas Testing

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.

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/

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.

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/