Photo By C.J. Lovelace | Joseph Wargo, lead electronics technician at the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency’s...... read more read more
FORT DETRICK, Md. -- Sustainment experts at U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command have developed new maintenance handbooks aimed at improving resource management practices and overall readiness for dozens of crucial life-saving medical devices in the field.
The new publications clearly outline numerous maintenance-related topics for 24 different devices, covering regular maintenance schedules, repair responsibilities, training requirements and a listing of repair parts that may be needed.
The devices, including portable X-ray machines, defibrillators, ventilators, patient monitors and other pieces of equipment essential to direct care for Soldiers on the battlefield, are part of a future medical repair cycle float program being developed by AMLC’s Integrated Logistics Support Center.
Created in coordination with the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity and U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency, the handbooks supplement original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, literature provided when the equipment was initially fielded to the force, according to Pam Wetzel, director of the ILSC’s Readiness and Sustainment Directorate.
The handbooks can be accessed through a link found on the AMLC website at https://www.amlc.army.mil. Users must request access then the link will take them to a USAMMDA CAC-enabled share point site, where the handbooks are located under “Medical Materiel Sustainment Support Handbook.”
“In the past, the Army medical commodity did not develop lifecycle sustainment plans (LCSPs) prior to fielding,” Wetzel said. “Absent of the LCSP, the handbook and supporting Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) will help inform the maintenance and sustainment requirements for these specific devices. Understanding if maintenance is being performed at the sustainment or unit level is critical for planning.”
Maintenance at the unit, or field, level is managed by operators and maintainers organic to the unit, while sustainment level maintenance is handled by USAMMA’s Medical Maintenance Operations Divisions.
“If you don’t capture the resources needed to do this maintenance correctly at the appropriate level … you won’t have the resources you need -- financial, manpower, training,” Wetzel added. “And that impacts readiness.”
Headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland, AMLC is the Army’s Life Cycle Management Command for medical materiel, with the ILSC serving as the tip of that sustainment support spear.
The ILSC, since its creation in 2022, has brought a renewed focus to sustainment needs during the initial materiel acquisition process, ensuring that new devices fielded to the force will consider future maintenance requirements and costs.
However, when it comes to maintenance of devices fielded previously, specifically those put into service during the 20-year war in the Middle East, it’s been more of a patchwork process.
“Proper documentation wasn’t always done to instruct the field how to maintain and sustain these devices once issued,” Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Turner said. “We, as a community, acknowledged this problem and have begun to correct this for the future.”
Turner, who serves as deputy director of R&S, said the maintenance handbooks are a marked step in the right direction.
“AMLC felt the need to address these items that were deemed the most critical to maintain readiness,” Turner said.
Wetzel said the new maintenance handbooks assist with not only upkeep of medical devices at the correct level, but also enterprise-level accounting, transparency and training requirements.
“Documenting which level should perform maintenance informs he maintainer and helps ensure the proper tools and training at each level,” she said.
Turner said the handbooks help improve clarity on required maintenance processes, while bringing medical more in line with sustainment practices of other Army commodities.
“There’s still a ways to go, but we hope operators and maintainers can use these documents to better support the equipment in the field,” he said.
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Editor's note: This story was updated Sept. 12, 2024, to reflect a change in terminology for maintenance handbooks hosted on the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity's share point website. They can be found under "Medical Materiel Sustainment Support Handbook."
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.05.2024 14:35 |
| Story ID: | 477822 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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