ASHE Medical Equipment & Infrastructure Maintenance 5

Question 1

A hospital CT scanner gantry cooling system fails, causing the X-ray tube to overheat and shut down. Which infrastructure system failure most likely caused this?

Accepted Answer

Chilled water supply interruption to the equipment room

Answer

CT scanners rely on building chilled water or facility HVAC to cool the gantry and X-ray tube; a chilled water supply failure is the most common infrastructure cause of thermal shutdown.

Question 2

When performing a battery backup test on a portable patient monitor, which parameter most directly measures the battery's ability to support clinical use?

Accepted Answer

Runtime at full operational load until low-battery alarm activates

Answer

Runtime under full operational load directly measures whether the battery can sustain the device for its intended clinical use duration.

Question 3

According to NFPA 99, what is the minimum number of hospital-grade receptacles required at a general care patient bed location?

Accepted Answer

4 receptacles on at least 2 circuits

Answer

NFPA 99 requires a minimum of four receptacles for each patient bed in a general care area, connected to at least two separate circuits.

Question 4

A facilities engineer is designing an equipment maintenance schedule for a hospital's fleet of 800 medical devices. What is the most effective strategy to reduce unplanned downtime without increasing PM labor costs proportionally?

Accepted Answer

Implement risk-stratified PM intervals using Maintenance Allocation (MTBF and criticality data)

Answer

Risk stratification using MTBF (mean time between failures) and device criticality allows high-risk devices to receive more frequent PM while lower-risk devices can be maintained less frequently, optimizing resource allocation.

Question 5

A hospital boiler producing steam for sterilization is found to have a safety relief valve that has not been tested in 3 years. What is the correct action?

Accepted Answer

Remove the relief valve from service for bench testing or replacement and do not operate the boiler until it is replaced

Answer

An untested safety relief valve is a serious pressure vessel safety hazard; the boiler should not operate without a certified relief valve in place, requiring removal for proper testing or replacement.

(ASHE) American Society for Health Care Engineering Certified Practice Test

(ASHE) American Society for Health Care Engineering Certified Practice Test

ASHE Medical Equipment & Infrastructure Maintenance 5