Concept explainer
Physical assets
Explains how equipment and other physical assets are recorded, located within a site and linked to the services that use them.
A physical asset is a piece of equipment or another item a site owns and uses in care, such as an infusion pump, a ventilator or an imaging machine. This page explains how assets are recorded, located within a site and linked to the services that use them.
What an asset is
A physical asset is an item a site owns and uses in care, held once in the hospital model with its own identity. Each asset carries a name, a kind, the place it sits and the service it serves.
name string Required | The name staff know the asset by. |
kind string Required | The type of equipment, such as a pump or a scanner. |
location reference Required | The place within a site where the asset sits. |
service reference | The service that uses the asset. |
status state | Whether the asset is available, in use, under maintenance or retired. |
Where an asset sits
An asset is located within a site, in a unit and a location, so the model always holds where a piece of equipment stands.
- site
- unit
- location
- assetrecorded with its place and status
The model also holds what is in use right now, so a ward sees which pumps are free and which are with a patient.
Asset status
An asset moves through a small set of states as it is used and serviced.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Available | Ready for use and free. |
| In use | Currently in use for care. |
| Under maintenance | Held for servicing or repair. |
| Retired | Withdrawn from service for good. |
Linked to services
An asset links to the services that use it, so a piece of equipment reads back to the care it supports.
A ventilator belongs to intensive care, and an imaging machine belongs to radiology. When a service fulfils an order, the asset it uses is the one recorded here. An imaging machine records the studies a clinician reads in the image study viewer.
Read how a clinician reads an imaging study that a machine produced.
Common questions
Does an asset belong to a unit or a service?
Both hold a link. An asset sits at a location within a unit, and it links to the service that uses it.
How does the model know an asset is free?
Each asset carries a status. The model marks an asset in use while it is with a patient and returns it to available when the care ends.
Can an asset move between sites?
An asset is recorded at one site at a time. Moving it updates the site and location it sits in.
Read how people and roles stand behind the services that use these assets.