System Malfunction, Please Contact Your Service Engineer: Three Pro Tips for Better System Up-Times

It never fails. Your patient schedule is stacked tight and there’s no time for mistakes or delays, but the imaging system shows an error. You’ve tried soft rebooting, hard rebooting, and even said a prayer, but nothing is working and now your system is down. When your system goes down, your stress goes up!

Some system issues are unexpected and unavoidable, but in many cases system problems can be avoided or resolved quickly by getting to know your system better and spending some time with a qualified service engineer. 

Here are a few Pro Tips to follow to prevent annoying system issues and get your system back up and running as quickly as possible:

Pro Tip #1: Report all glitches or odd system messages to your Field Service Engineer (FSE) as they occur. Even if error messages or weird glitches go away, they may be sending you a warning that a much bigger problem is about to happen to your system. FSEs can decide when to address the error messages based on their knowledge and experience with the system you are operating. Sometimes that means they will be on site soon, other times that means they will address the issue during their next scheduled maintenance. Either way, it is better to let them know of issues so they can be prepared to address them upon their arrival!

Pro Tip #2: Get to know your FSE. Spending time with your FSE will help with being able to learn the technical language they use regarding your system. This will help you be better at communicating future system issues, which will lead to a faster repair. By building this relationship you may also build some mutual trust and respect for one another, which always makes these situations a little easier to deal with. It’s always more pleasant to work with someone you can trust, so give this a try!

Pro Tip #3: Learn about your system when the FSE is on site. Learn the nomenclature of the system and what each part does, their part names, and what you can do to help diagnose issues over the phone. FSEs will appreciate your willingness to learn and, more importantly, your willingness to help them provide the best diagnosis. Doing so can sometimes result in the system returning to service over the phone, which helps keep you going. If the system cannot be returned to service by phone support, at least your help in the diagnosis process can help the FSE decide what parts are needed to get the system running again. Well over 50% of system issues can be corrected over the phone if users are willing to help the FSE diagnose the issue and return the system into service.

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