QR Tech: Digital Platform for Medical Equipment Management in Public Hospitals

In public healthcare institutions around Honduras, the rotation of medical staff in different wards leads to an accelerated deterioration of medical equipment and recurring reports of failures. The biomedical department receives a high number of corrective maintenance requests, most of which turn out to be user-related issues. The San Felipe Hospital in Tegucigalpa, in its men's and women's medicine wards, has a wide variety of brands and models of medical equipment and is also considered the main source of reports. The objective of this research is to design a digital platform with access to user guides through QR codes, allowing the biomedical department to manage the equipment. Agile methodology was used for the design and implementation of the platform. The process of reporting failures was initially evaluated to propose improvements and determine the necessary information to include. Airtable was used as the database application, and multiple tests were conducted in the wards, documenting user feedback. With the implementation of the platform, a 76.52 % reduction in the time required to report failures was achieved. There was also a 63.3 % reduction in the distances traveled by medical staff for the same process. The use of QR codes and the digital platform allowed for quick access to user guides to clarify any doubts regarding usage and basic care.