The relevance of instrument safety in clinical practice

Among the various instruments used in hospitals there is a wide range of differences as regards properties and quality levels. In this paper an attempt is made to ascertain what instrument properties and quality levels are essential. Instrument safety is one of the properties that is a must in clinical practice. However, instrument safety is hardly ever expressed in economic terms. It seems possible to analyse the cost-benefit relationship of safety in instruments for clinical practice by using the available figures on everyday risks and the money which society is willing to spend in order to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. Taking these accepted risks as a starting point, it can be maintained that one fatal accident per 200 hospital beds per year could be an acceptable accident rate. Moreover, a way for evaluating features and quality levels with regard to their relative contribution to the desired result of the main action, called the Value Added to the Result (VAR), is suggested.