No hype: Y2K demands your immediate attention
If you haven’t already started, there’s still time
The adage "better late than never" takes on new meaning when it’s applied to year 2000 (Y2K) woes. Make sure that EKGs and other cardiac equipment you are using are compatible.
The good news is there’s still time to begin emergency procedures. But don’t get too comfortable: The bad news is that workable solutions and contingency plans must be constructed as soon as possible. In fact, Y2K is a problem that has to be addressed today, not tomorrow.
Mike Barsness, Y2K product compliance manager at Medtronic in Minneapolis, says his company has combed through all its products to ensure Y2K compliance. When they found instruments that had problems, they took appropriate corrective efforts. "Typically, Y2K problems in cardiac-related computers have to do with the calendar date resetting to an incorrect number," he says. "So, printed-out reports and date-time stamps on January 1, 2000, may indicate an incorrect year, usually 1980 instead of 2000. All that has to be done to correct the problem is to reset that date once."
Pacemakers and other implantable devices are Y2K compliant because none deliver therapy based on calendar date, and none maintain calendar year internally. "The only non-compliant issues we’ve found," says Barsness, "are associated with their supporting instrumentation."
Check the manufacturers of your instruments or devices to ensure compliance. Most have Web sites with instructions on what to do or where to get information.
At Medtronic’s Web site, for example, www.medtronic.com/corporate/yr2000/definitions.html#non-compliant, is an on-line searchable database of products (pacemakers, defibrillators, drug infusion systems, neuro-stimulators, heart valves, and others) where you can get information about specific models and their compliance status.
Enter the model number or brand name of the device in question and you are supplied with information on it. If there is a compliance issue that cannot be addressed directly, the Web site furnishes information on where to get help as well as a form for obtaining additional Y2K information, "Keep Me Informed."
Details on discontinued products and contact information for divested products are listed. Availability and sources of compliance information for products recently added through acquisition (Synectics, Dantec, Midas Rex, and Zinetics) or merger (Physio-Control, AVE, Sofamor Danek, and Avecor) are also there. Y2K compliance status may be unknown if, for example, the product has been discontinued or sold to another company.
The company claims that all its products are Y2K compliant except:
• Blood Management’s Model AT1000 auto-transfusion device. The system will print and display the year 1900 instead of 2000. A software upgrade is available.
• Neurological’s Model 8820 SynchroMed programmer for the drug infusion device. The computer’s internal clock will cause 1980 to be displayed when the computer is used after the year 2000 begins. A one-time manual date change is required the first time it is used in the year 2000.
• Neurological’s Model 8810 SynchroMed Programmer (with NEC computers) for the drug infusion device. Every time the programmer is powered off and on after 1/1/2000, the date reverts to a 20th century date. The correct date must be set at each programming session. Customers will be notified regarding an action plan to address this issue. The Model 8810 SynchroMed Programmer (with Toshiba computers) for the drug infusion device is compliant. Model 8810s with serial numbers beginning with XF are NEC and non-compliant. Model 8810s with serial numbers beginning with NAN are Toshiba and compliant. (See article on p. 55 containing an example of how to correct a Y2K data error.)
• Synectics software product Polygram for Windows Base Module version 2.03. A software upgrade is available. For information, call (800) 227-3191.
• Synectics DOS software product Multigram version 6.31. Customers need to upload data before midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, and not make any new recordings until Jan. 1, 2000.
• Synectics DOS software product EsopHogram version 5.70c02. It does not upload studies performed over midnight from Dec. 31, 1999, to Jan. 1, 2000; Feb. 28 to Feb. 29, 2000; and Feb. 29 to March 1, 2000. Customers need to upload data before midnight on these three dates and not make any new recordings until the day following each upload.
• Some Dantec products in Databank, Duet, Keypoint, and Menuet. 01/04/1980 will be displayed after 12/31/99. These products require installation of the Dantec Patch Utility.
• Dantec’s Concerto. The date/time circuit will be locked at 12/31/1999. Because Concerto was discontinued in 1992, and there is only a small number of the product still in use, it will not be corrected. Contact Dantec at (800) 227-3191.
If you are concerned about your Medtronic devices that are dependent upon calendar year, the telephone number to call for advice is (612) 514-2589. Fax (612) 514-2550 or e-mail [email protected].
Another source of information on other manufacturers’ devices is the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health’s Web site, www.fda.gov/cdrh/yr2000/year2000.html, where you’ll find the Biomedical Equipment Year 2000 Status Database.
Experts advise that you be prepared for less than 100% accuracy even when you think you’re on top of the problem.
"Even when we think we’ve fixed everything," says Audie G. Lewis, director of material program development at Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL, "keep in mind that the best tool out there for remediating lines of code is 99% accurate. No one is offering anything better than that. If you’ve got 10 million lines of code and a 1% error rate in finding and correcting dates, that can mean a lot of problems down the road. They may not all show up on January 1, but will eventually surface. It’s the toss of the dice whether those affected dates crop up in mission-critical functions."
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