As you are evaluating a company and its technology, be sure to understand the importance of anesthesia to its business. Is anesthesia a core focus, with the company allocating significant dollars to research and development (R&D) in this area? Or is anesthesia an ancillary product line that falls behind competing priorities? Evaluate each company’s customer satisfaction scores and speak with customer references, not just new customers but those who have been using the company’s technology for more than five years.

Since many capital equipment investments have relatively long useful lives and depreciation periods, it is important to know the manufacturer will be there to serve your needs after the sale. If you are preparing for an investment in capital equipment, you want to invest with an organization that will be there to support the products and your facility in the years to come.

The average lifespan of an anesthesia machine typically exceeds 10 years; therefore, you must consider whether the equipment that you purchase meets not only your needs today, but also your future needs. Does the equipment provider have the reliability track record and the base technology to adapt to future demands? While a typical vendor’s technology might be adequate to care for the masses today, does it have the precision to manage patients as they become older, sicker, and in the case of preemies, smaller? Not all vendors are prepared to meet these long-term needs.

Furthermore, the latest generations of many capital equipment products are software based and software driven; therefore, vendors must be capable of making improvements through software revisions. Be sure to understand how your vendor will manage upgrades to its technology to keep it effective for patient care in the years ahead.

Unit price alone does not always represent the total cost of an item. The total cost of ownership (TCO) takes into consideration both the direct and indirect costs associated with the management of the asset. TCO accounts not only for the cost of purchase (including financing) but also all of the costs associated with the operation and maintenance of the equipment, device or system for its useful life.

While ventilators have significantly evolved over the past seven decades, most ventilators on the market today still use traditional bellows technology that was designed in the 1950s, while other vendors have introduced newer ventilation technologies (piston, turbo-vent, volume reflector) into the market. Understand what you are purchasing and how it meets the demands of today’s healthcare environment.

Studies have shown that general anesthesia using low fresh gas flows offers clinical, ecologic and financial benefits. Ask each vendor if its machine is built to support low- and minimal-flow anesthesia, including whether the anesthesia machine offers the key three (3) low flow attributes (low/minimal flow guidance mechanism, method of handling rainout, and sample gas recycling).

Information technology (IT) connectivity is increasingly important in acute care facilities. This is especially true for anesthesia machines. You should be absolutely certain that the software level of your specific anesthesia machine is properly interfaced to your IT interface drivers. Monitor connectivity is another important consideration. Ask your vendor how their anesthesia machines communicate with third party monitors, including whether it has an installed base of existing anesthesia machines connected to the monitors you plan to keep.

Third party payers and insurance companies including Medicare will no longer pay for "hospital-induced" diagnoses such as nosocomial infections or ventilator associated pneumonia. How would the equipment you’re evaluating help reduce the incidence of these infections?

Having anesthesia products from different vendors in various areas of a facility, particularly consumable items (e.g. circuits, flow sensors) can lead to staff confusion, supply chain inefficiencies and workflow disruption. In contrast, the ability to use the same vaporizers and consumables across your continuum of care can boost staff productivity and satisfaction.

Change is never easy in a clinical environment. While new anesthesia equipment might have the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, addressing the human factors related to technology implementation, including staff training, can seem like an insurmountable task. To ease the transition, choose a vendor that offers choice and flexibility. For example, most anesthesia providers today are accustomed to using mechanical mixers and vaporizers, and therefore, don’t want to change their practice to accommodate an electronic interface. Select a vendor that offers you the choice to either stay with your current interface, or transition to a new one, depending upon the needs and comfort level of your anesthesia team.