Maintain medical equipment or instruments
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 24 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment (4.A.3.b.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 24 occupations that perform it.
- Pretest and calibrate anesthesia delivery systems and monitors.
- Obtain, distribute, or maintain low vision devices.
- Inspect, clean, test, and maintain respiratory therapy equipment to ensure equipment is functioning safely and efficiently, ordering repairs when necessary.
- Calibrate exercise or testing equipment.
- Ensure that equipment or devices are properly stored after use.
- Calibrate and test anesthesia equipment.
- Maintain dental equipment and sharpen and sterilize dental instruments.
- Check, test, and maintain cardiology equipment, making minor repairs when necessary, to ensure proper operation.
- Calibrate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) console or peripheral hardware.
- Maintain vehicles and medical and communication equipment, and replenish first aid equipment and supplies.
- Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.
- Maintain instruments, equipment, or machinery to ensure proper working condition.
- Maintain ophthalmic instruments or equipment.
- Calibrate, troubleshoot, or repair equipment and correct malfunctions, as needed.
- Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
- Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use.
- Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
- Maintain equipment or furniture to keep it in good working condition, including performing the assembly or disassembly of equipment or accessories.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
24 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Anesthesiologist Assistants
- Athletic Trainers
- Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians
- Critical Care Nurses
- Dental Hygienists
- Emergency Medical Technicians
- Endoscopy Technicians
- Exercise Physiologists
- Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists
- Medical Equipment Preparers
- Neurodiagnostic Technologists
- Nurse Anesthetists
- Occupational Therapy Aides
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
- Ophthalmic Medical Technologists
- Pharmacy Aides
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Phlebotomists
- Physical Therapist Aides
- Respiratory Therapists
- Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
- Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain medical equipment or instruments”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Maintain medical laboratory equipment | 8 |
| Repair medical facility equipment | 7 |
| Repair medical or dental assistive devices | 4 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.