InterOpNurse Experience: System Downtime

Background: An angry Radiology department manager was complaining of an issue that was related to when a system goes down.

Client Perspective: “You mean to say it is a none issue until the system goes down again.”

InterOpNurse Perspective: I understand that downtime is downtime. I am not here to condone it, nor am I supporting it. I am not justifying it either; I am merely trying to provide an explanation as to why they occur. The concept I am trying to convey here is the fact that we are working with a system. Unfortunately systems do go down. There is no such thing as a 100% up time, and there is no vendor out there who will contractually agree to 100% up time (99.999% at best). This is also for scheduled downtime, this does not cover unscheduled downtime. As a department, your best defense is to develop a policy and procedure for “downtime.” This not only covers you as a department, but also provides a guide to your employees on steps to take should a downtime is necessary.