Developing an Integrated Assessment System for Clinical Engineering Department SidAhmed A. Abayazeed, BSc, and Alnazier O. Hamza, PhD From University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan. Performance assessment of an organization or a unit is a key element in the fact-based management. Clinical engineering department, as one of the most sensitive areas in the hospital, needs to ensure its efficiency, progress, and the readiness for peer reviews. This article describes the development of an integrated quantitative assessment system for clinical engineering department. After an intensive review of the requirements of different standards and their scoring system, a proposed assessment system of 12 categories has been developed with addressing the issues that are concerning the developing countries. For the quantification of the department’s performance, a new mathematical formula has been developed and tested. The integration of medical services and healthcare tech- nology is very critical in the presence of today’s technology- dependent medical care. At the point where this synergy is addressed in the hospital organizational structure, clinical engineering department starts strongly as supportive de- partment with the role of ensuring the technical sustain- ability for the hospital. The roles, duties, and functions of this department have been extensively discussed 1 in the literature. For a fact-based management, 2 performance is regularly measured and assessed. Thus, first of all, the assessment of clinical engineering department takes a special consid- eration in the concerns of the department itself, and it is reflected on the departmental effectiveness, income, and competitive position. Another forcing reason is the depart- mental readiness for the accreditation or certification. On the other hand, Assessment of clinical engineering depart- ment interests health institutions, hospitals, consultants, and accreditation authorities. Assessment takes many types that differ according to the objective of the assessment process. Assessing an institution for the accreditation (such as Joint Commission on Accredi- tation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO] surveys) is a process of benchmarking against an acceptable level of requirements to ensure running a safe and efficient business. On the other hand, assessing distinguished institutions for selecting the best is a process of looking for the highest vertical growth in specific categories—like what is done in the Baldrige National Quality Program. The assessment matrix will be completed by the addition of assessment levels. As- sessment process can target the output of the department (ie, performance indicators), a process done by the department or all the processes within the department. Despite the different requirements, levels, and outputs of the assessment system, putting the performance of the institution in a form of fact is a common result. The fact takes a quantitative (ie, fact in numbers) or descriptive (ie, the area of strengths and weaknesses) form. This article describes the development of the Integrated Assessment System for Clinical Engineering Department (IASCED). This system integrates (in its assessment require- ment) all the processes that share the production of the output of the clinical engineering department. The IASCED also aims to address the issues of the developing countries. Because the quantification of performance is more fa- miliar in terms of progress analysis, IASCED aims to present the performance of the clinical engineering department in numbers. Quantification is also a primary step for the com- puterization of the assessment process. Standards and requirements beyond their levels repre- sent a rich resource for the assessment projects. An intensive review for the materials standardizing the practice of clini- cal engineering department has been conducted in the con- text of the aims of the IASCED project, materials such as Journal of Clinical Engineering  October/December 2010 189 Corresponding author: SidAhmed A. Abayazeed, BSc, Biomedical Engineer at the University of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan (e.sidahmed@yahoo.com). SidAhmed A. Abayazeed, BSc, is a biomedical engineer at the Uni- versity of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan. He has a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering from Sudan University of Science and Technology, and he is now pursuing a research-based MS degree in Biomedical Engineering from Sudan Academy of Sci- ence. He is researching the area of clinical engineering and computer applications in Health Care Technology Management. Alnazier O. Hamza, PhD, is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Medical Science and Technology, Khartoum, Sudan. He received his BS degree in Medical Imaging from Sudan University of Science and Technology, his MS in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering from Surrey University, UK, and PhD in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Natal, South Africa. DOI: 10.1097/JCE.0b013e3181f667a9 FEATURE ARTICLE Copyright @ 20 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. 10