MEIGaN Testing for Medical Rooms

It is vital to ensure the safety of patients, in medical locations, when they are likely to be subjected to the application of medical electrical equipment, this can be achieved by the safety of the installation and the safe operation and maintenance of the medical equipment.

The greatest danger to the patient is if a voltage is conducted to the heart muscle by means of a catheter, guide wire, pacing lead or endoscope. The heart is particularly sensitive to alternating voltages that are similar to that found in normal mains supplies (50 – 60HZ).

A voltage of as little as 10mV can be sufficient to trigger ventricular fibrillation. This is called microshock. This may not be apparent to the staff during a procedure but could be fatal to the patient!

Such small potentials are easily produced in any number of ways – contact potentials, earth leakage currents, induced EMF’s, poor earthing etc.

There is evidence that microshocks may have caused heart failure in a number of cardiac patients. MEIGaN testing will reduce that risk.

To ensure MEIGaN compliance, all accessible conductive surfaces should be earthed, with only one earth present in any given location and only one single phase supply should be present in that location. Extension leads can also present danger within clinical areas – 25% of those tested in one hospital had serious electrical faults, despite having undergone routine PAT 1000 testing within the previous twelve months!

It is recommended that all imaging rooms be MEIGaN tested every twelve months to ensure that they are electrically safe.

Mobile units (Transportable rooms) too, require stringent testing, as cable connections tend to work loose due to the vibration during transit.

CIMS offer a complete MEIGaN test of your clinical rooms, carried out by a MEIGaN certificated operative, with a full report given with the test certificate.

Should remedial work be necessary to restore the room to safe functionality, our very experienced team will carry out the work promptly and efficiently, mindful that downtime is critical within the hospital environment.