According to announcements from Rigel Medical in the United Kingdom, and EQ2 in Burlington, Vermont, a new approach to medical device testing in hospitals is available with the launch of their jointly developed automated interface. The new interface integrates Rigel Medical’s 288 safety analyzer with EQ2’s HEMS clinical equipment management system. Together, these technologies reportedly provide a fully automated, highly accurate, and easily portable system for capturing and documenting medical device safety records.

EQ2 reports that a new module has been incorporated into its HEMS Enterprise software to make it fully compatible with the automated Rigel 288 analyzer. This module, the EQ2 Rigel SA Interface, enables a biomed engineer to harness the 288’s full capabilities to capture valuable data at the point of testing in a hospital or other healthcare setting. Once captured, that data is automatically sent to the HEMS system to complete safety checks and link to the medical device’s inventory, test library, and performance history.

John Backes, associate director at Rigel Medical, said the international and domestic hospital markets are key areas of growth, and that Rigel has partnered with EQ2 to provide an advanced testing solution for this sector.

“EQ2 has simplified the user interface experience while delivering accurate and robust interoperability with the Rigel 288, [and this] was a key to our interest in EQ2,” said Backes. “EQ2 has delivered on their vision with the release of this simple, intuitive interface to our Rigel 288—a perfect complement to our great safety analyzers.”

EQ2 is the first Rigel-authorized provider of automated CMMS – Rigel interfaces. The Rigel 288 has a compact Bluetooth bar code scanner that enables devices and equipment to be quickly and easily identified. Test results can be stored internally and printed wirelessly to a small battery operated printer. Users also can select from a range of preset test programs, or develop their own customized routines.

“With this first release, EQ2 and Rigel prove that complex interoperability can be accomplished through good system design to be stunningly simple for the customer to use,” said Vishal Malhotra, director of development at EQ2. 

More information about this new approach to medical device safety testing may be found on the Rigel Medical website, or the EQ2 website.