What a hospital purchase committee asks before it trials a new device

The head of surgery said yes to your trial two weeks ago, and the unit is still in your store. Before a hospital lets a device into a ward, up to six people ask their own question. The clinician asks whether it beats what they use now. The biomedical engineer asks who is liable if it fails. The nursing head asks who trains the night shift. Infection control asks how it is cleaned, and purchase asks what it costs once the trial ends. A supplier who finds each person early gets a trial that ends in a decision.

Who sits on the committee, even when nobody calls it one

A teaching hospital or a large chain has a formal committee, a form and a meeting date. In a 150-bed private hospital the committee may be the medical director, the purchase manager and the biomedical engineer, meeting when they can. In a nursing home it is the owner-doctor and whoever keeps the accounts.

The size changes the paperwork, not the questions. What follows applies to all three, and the marketing strategy for a medical device company post covers the separate question of what each role checks at the point of purchase. This post is about the step before: getting the device into the ward at all.

The questions, by the person who asks

The clinician or head of department. What does this do that the current device does not? Who else in the city uses it, and may we call them? Will it slow the list or the rounds while the team learns it?

The biomedical engineer. Is the device registered for this use, and can we see the documents? Who services it during the trial, and how fast? If it fails or harms a patient during the trial, who carries the responsibility? Device registration and permitted claims differ by device and change over time, so answer only with what your regulatory adviser has confirmed.

The nursing superintendent or ward in-charge. Who trains the nurses, including the night shift? How much extra work does it add per patient? Who do they call at two in the morning?

Infection control. How is it cleaned between patients, with which agents? Which parts are single use? Where do the used consumables go?

Purchase and finance. What does it cost after the trial, and what do the consumables cost per patient? Are we tied to your consumables? Is there an annual maintenance charge? Does this trial oblige us to buy?

The administrator or medical superintendent. Who signs the trial letter? Is the demo unit insured while it is here? Is there an indemnity if something goes wrong?

If the device connects to a network or stores patient data, add the IT head, who will ask where the data goes.

A role map for each hospital

Keep one sheet for every hospital where you want a trial. Fill it in after each visit.

A blank cell in the "name" column is the trial's weak point. Until every row has a name and a dated answer, do not deliver the unit.

For example: a wound-care device at a Bhopal hospital

For example, a Vadodara maker of negative pressure wound therapy units sends its representative to a 150-bed private hospital in Bhopal. He wins over the head of surgery, who asks for a trial. Two weeks pass and nothing happens. The nursing superintendent was never told and will not let the staff use an unfamiliar device. Infection control has asked how the fluid canisters are disposed of. Purchase has asked the price of the dressing kits and heard nothing. The administrator will not sign the loan letter, because it has no clause on who is responsible if the unit fails.

The representative goes back with the role map. He runs a short training session for the nursing staff, with a night-shift slot. Infection control gets the cleaning and disposal instructions in writing. Purchase gets a price sheet with the dressing kit cost per patient. The administrator gets a draft trial letter with the responsibility clause, a no-obligation line and an end date. Three weeks later the trial starts, with every person on the sheet having seen the answer to their own question. It is not clean: infection control rejects one canister type, so the maker brings a second type, about ₹18,000 of extra stock that it writes off if the sale fails. The maker, the hospital and the figures are invented for illustration.

When the full round is not needed

Skip the role map for low-value consumables a ward in-charge can order alone. A committee visit for a box of dressings wastes everyone's afternoon.

Skip most of it, too, where the hospital group already uses your device in another branch. Ask the biomedical engineer there to speak to a counterpart at the new site, and go straight to the clinician.

Running the trial once it is approved is a different job, covered in running a demo or trial at a hospital.

A hospital has to find you before any of this starts, and the medical devices and equipment page covers how it shortlists makers. Once every row has a name, capability presentations can give each role a short presentation built around its own question, rather than one deck for all six.

Fill in the map before you offer the trial

Pick the hospital where your current trial has stalled and fill in the role map from memory. The empty rows tell you whom to visit next. If you want the role maps and the material for each role prepared with you, tell us what you need.