Test Labs Newsletter September 2024
Test Labs - Medical Devices
Medical Device Testing Laboratory for Global Compliance | GLP Certified | ISO17025 Accredited | Customer Focused
Handheld Device Material Compatibility – Case Study
As we are all aware, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic were wide-ranging and varied. In the world of medical devices, one impact in particular has been frequently overlooked: a pronounced increase in the frequency and intensity of cleaning practices within healthcare settings. While this may have reduced hospital acquired infections, it has also led to a decrease in the service life of thousands of pieces of equipment. Across the UK (and likely many other countries too), medical devices have been failing at much faster rates than anticipated, as harsh disinfectants degrade and corrode surfaces and sensitive components.
Expert Spotlight
Introducing James Tolmie:?Our Laboratory Scientist
What do you do at Test Labs??
I am a laboratory scientist, specialising in product testing and material compatibility. I can often be found performing service life tests or highly accelerated life tests on various medical devices. I also maintain the equipment at Test Labs using a database I built from scratch to track everything and keep on top of calibration and servicing.
Where did your interest in science stem from? ?
Apparently my first word was "wheel", and from then on it was difficult to stop me from building or breaking things.? Predictably, my favourite scientific discipline is physics, although I'll always need a calculator for anything involving maths.??
Have you always wanted to be a Laboratory Scientist - Product Testing?
I've always been interested in how things work. Despite this, for a long time I wanted to be involved in the world of publishing, either as an author or an editor. Working as a laboratory scientist is much more fulfilling!
What would your advice be for someone thinking of becoming a Laboratory Scientist - Product Testing?
Find ways to show your interest in whichever fields of technology you find interesting, in both your working and personal life. Curiosity for how things work (and indeed how things break) is key, as is the ability to think of creative solutions using limited resources.
What is your top tip to manufacturers to keep them compliant?
Don't get caught out by material compatibility. There are so many devices on the market right now that have been practically dissolved by post-pandemic cleaning practices, and that means it's going to be very difficult to back up service life claims. It's time to try out new materials and to update instructions for use!
What do you love most about your job?
Most of the studies I'm involved with require customising existing test methods to fit whatever we're testing. The challenge and the variety that comes with this keeps me on my toes and lets me learn new skills, especially when it means I get to build a new test rig. Sometimes the new skills are in the realm of mechanical or electrical engineering, other times they are more theoretical.
What do you get up to when you’re not testing and analysing medical devices?
Every year my family and I will save up to go on holiday in the middle of nowhere in France or Germany or somewhere else easy to drive to in Europe. It's become tradition to find and visit the oddest museums we can: last year it was a mushroom museum inside a network of natural caves!
I'm a big nerd, so I love to play tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons. I also have two guinea pigs, neither of whom are fans of D&D and think my time would be better spent giving them extra cabbage.
领英推荐
Medical Device Material Compatibility Assessment
We analyse test item materials at both sample and product level to assess process compatibility. Disinfectants and cleaning agents applied to surfaces and products, in formats such as liquids, sprays, and vapours, have the potential to cause chemical damage as well as changes in the visual appearance and physical properties of the materials they come into contact with.
Through our Material Compatibility Testing service, we developed a custom testing plan that takes into consideration the mode of action and recommended use of your disinfectant product and/or technology. We measure the effects of your products on a wide variety of materials, helping you to determine the damages that can happen overtime.
Using our team’s expertise in material science, we developed a series of in-house tests based on industry standards to properly analyse test item materials at both sample and product level during the Initial and Final Assessments. Results from these tests provide important qualitative and quantitative data for assessing potential structural and surface damage at a visual, physical, and chemical level.
Whether you have a disinfectant you would like to test against common healthcare materials, or a material you would like to test against common healthcare disinfectants, we offer the following tests:
Results from these tests provide important qualitative and quantitative data for assessing potential structural and surface damage at a visual, physical, and chemical level.
Quantitative tests: The chemical damage and changes in physical properties of the materials are measured by a range of tests. Results from the following tests provide important qualitative and quantitative data for assessing potential product and/or surface damages at a visual, physical, and chemical level.
Qualitative tests: We also test the effects of disinfectant products and technologies through visual and tactile assessments, monitoring changes in a test sample's properties (such as surface shine and texture) compared to a control sample.
Please check out our website to learn more about our material compatibility testing options.?
Medical Device Manual Cleaning
Enrico Allegra?
If someone had told me 16 years ago that I’d still be manually cleaning items as part of my job, I’d have been quite surprised. It wasn’t so much about the cleaning itself, but more about the fact that, even back then, I knew I wanted to be a scientist. My career began with early-morning shifts cleaning and polishing silver cutlery before starting my restaurant shift.
Good Laboratory Practice & Safe Medical Device Reuse
Toni Carlton
Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) refers to a set of principles designed to be implemented within a testing facilities quality management system. These principles define the processes and conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies must be planned, executed, monitored, recorded, reported, and retained. GLP was established to govern non-clinical studies that assess the safety of chemicals and drugs, following widespread discovery in the 1970s of falsified or fabricated records.