Scientific Instruments Service Level Agreement
This document serves as a set of underlying guidelines for the level of service and support that the University of Washington Scientific Instruments (UWSI) provides.
Mission Statement
Scientific Instruments provides technical expertise and solutions in the maintenance of clinical and laboratory equipment to support the mission of the University of Washington.
Support
Scientific Instruments supports over 20,000 pieces of patient care, laboratory, and research equipment spread across the greater Seattle area including the UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, NW Hospital, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, UW Neighborhood Clinics and a variety of other University, state, federal, and other publicly funded agencies.
Services Offered
Technology Management: Our record-keeping system tracks instruments throughout their complete life cycle including initial inspection, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, recalls & safety alerts and final disposal.
Regulatory Compliance: Our records can be used to document compliance with TJC, CAP, CLIA, AAAHC, FDA, CMS or other accrediting agencies’ requirements for equipment maintenance.
Preventive Maintenance (PM): We can establish a scheduled maintenance program customized to meet your specific needs. Work orders are automatically generated at pre-determined intervals and our technicians will travel to your location to perform services.
Routine or Emergency Repairs: We can repair most equipment found in patient care, laboratory, or office settings and have technicians on-call 24/7 in case you need service after hours.
Design & Prototype: We can take your ideas and convert them into fully functional prototypes or custom devices.
This agreement covers the following groups:
- UW departments
- All other organizations
Methods of Contact
Place non-urgent service requests through the UWSI biomed@uw.edu email or main shop phone 206-543-5580.
Place urgent requests on the main UWSI phone 206-543-5580.
In person at the UWSI main shop address:
T264 Health Sciences Center Box 357180
1705 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195-7180
Regular Hours of Operation
8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday (excluding state holidays)
On-Call Hours
- 4:30pm-8:00am Monday-Friday
- Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays
Requests for UWSI Service
When making the request the following information is required:
- UWSI Equipment Tag Number
- Budget Number
- Location
- Contact Name
- Contact Phone Number
- Description of the Problem
- Is the equipment functional?
- Time equipment will be available for service.
- Urgency of request
Urgent requests made after hours (outside of 8:00-4:30) should be placed through the main shop phone 206-543-5580; Leave an urgent voicemail with your name and call back number to contact the on-call technician.
UWSI Response Times
- Non-urgent requests will be replied to by the next business day.
- Urgent requests will be addressed within 2 hours.
- Urgent voicemails placed after hours will be responded to within 15 minutes, and a technician will be onsite if required within 2 hours.
- PMs will be completed by the last day of the month they are due.
- UWSI will act on equipment recalls and safety alerts within 5 business days.
Costs
- Per UW policy, Scientific Instruments will bill for all labor and materials within the month work is incurred, regardless of whether the service is complete. Progress billings will continue until the service is completed.
- Payment is due within 30 days of receiving invoice.
- All time technicians spend working on customer service requests is billed to at the current applicable shop rates.
- Internal UW customers, billed with a UW budget, are charged a general shop rate see SI website for current rate schedule.
- External UW customers, billed on an invoice (IRs), credit card, or purchase order (POs), are charged an external shop rate see SI website for current rate schedule.
- If a service call is cancelled the labor and parts charges incurred before cancellation will be charged.
- If a scheduled PM is cancelled or rescheduled technician labor will be charged for customer contact and PM cancellation documentation.
- Premium Rates are charged for Imaging & Lasers services. Technicians providing these services have had advanced training and have competency in these fields.
- See SI website for current rate schedule.
- All materials used on customer requests are billed at cost, plus applicable shipping and tax. Additionally, Non-UW customers are charged a pass-through UW overhead see SI website for current rate schedule.
- An estimate can be provided and includes a minimum charge of ½ hr. for initial inspection, diagnosis, and parts research.
- Time outside of regular hours of operation is charged at the overtime rate, or 1.5 times the applicable shop rate.
- If the on-call technician is required to go on-site after hours the minimum charge is 2 hours at 1.5 times the applicable shop rate.
Support
UWSI supports clinical and laboratory equipment including preventative maintenance, corrective maintenance, equipment modification, equipment prototyping, incoming inspections, equipment installation and equipment removal in accordance with UWSI Equipment Management Plan.
Incoming Inspection
Medical and Laboratory equipment generally requires an incoming inspection. The Customer is responsible to notify UWSI of new equipment acquisition, preferably before the equipment is purchased.
Maintenance
UWSI performs maintenance of equipment as recommended by the manufacturer, regulatory, and accrediting bodies.
Documentation
- UWSI will maintain an inventory of all the equipment it supports. This record will be maintained throughout the life of the equipment. Once equipment is retired, the record will be kept for as long as regulatory requirements are required, or longer.
- The equipment record will include asset number, capital asset number, model number, manufacturer name, serial number, asset description, date purchased, date installed, purchase order number, purchase price/cost, PM requirements, location, department and building, software revision, service manual, history of all services performed.
- Equipment criteria such as networking/ IT connectivity, warranty, contract status information, service report information is documented as available.
- For access to your equipment records, email biomed@uw.edu.
Equipment Recalls and Alerts
- All equipment safety alerts and recalls should be sent to the biomed@uw.edu email.
- UWSI uses weekly ECRI Institute announcements to stay informed on equipment safety alerts and recalls for clinical equipment.
Service Feedback
If you have feedback regarding UWSI service, please send an email to biomed@uw.edu or call 206-543-5580 and ask to speak to the manager.