Bluesheet Contents     PDF version

File Description [top]

Health Devices Alerts^® (HDA), produced by ECRI, is a comprehensive database of reported medical device problems, hazards, recalls, evaluations, and updates. The selections derive from an extensive review of the medical, legal, and technical literature, various national reporting networks and government sources, and ECRI'S own international problem reporting network. Each entry is indexed using ECRI's internationally endorsed Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS). An online thesaurus is available to assist in locating broader, narrower, and related product names. A complete directory of medical devices and manufacturers is available in a companion database, File 188, ECRI's Health Devices Sourcebook^®.

HDA covers reports of problems, evaluations, and technology assessments of diagnostic and therapeutic medical equipment and related materials, ranging from sutures to magnetic resonance imaging units, including implanted devices and related accessories, disposable medical products, clinical laboratory reagents, and selected hospital furniture, casework, and systems.

Tips [top]

Subject Coverage [top]

HDA covers reports of problems with diagnostic and therapeutic medical equipment and related materials, including:

• Radiological Devices
• Implanted Devices and Related Accessories
• Disposable Medical Products
• Clinical Laboratory Reagents
• Product Misuse
• Hospital Furniture
• Ophthalmologic Devices
• Obstetric/Gynecologic Devices
• Dental Equipment
• Surgical Equipment
• Materials Management Products
• Orthopedic Devices
• Physical Medicine Equipment

Sources [top]

HDA contains four major types of information relating to medical devices: 1) abstracts (ABS) of articles from the published literature, 2) action items (AI) that ECRI has investigated or verified, 3) Problem Reporting Program (PRP) records from the voluntary, spontaneous reporting system operated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and 4) Medical Device Reporting (MDR) records from the mandatory reporting system operated by the FDA.

Print Counterparts [top]

• None

Dialog File Data [top]

Database Content [top]

• Bibliographic Records

Document Types Indexed [top]

• Reports
• Journal Articles

Geographic Coverage [top]

• US Only

Geographic Restrictions [top]

• None

Special Features [top]

• ERA Available
• Graduate Education Program
• KWIC and HILIGHT Available
• DIALOG Alert Available
• Online Thesaurus for product names

DialIndex/OneSearch Categories [top]

Contact [top]

Terms and Conditions [top]

For Dialog's Redistribution and Archive Policy, enter HELP ERA online. The following terms and conditions also apply.

Health Devices Alerts and the medical device terms and numerical codes used therein are owned and copyrighted by ECRI. ECRI authorizes the use of such terms and codes solely for the customer's internal use. All bibliographic information and record identification information in Health Devices Alerts are owned and copyrighted by ECRI. Health Devices Alerts may not be disseminated, reproduced, or in any way made available to any third party or be used for any commercial purpose whatsoever without the prior written consent of ECRI. Requests for permission should be addressed to: Permissions Editor, ECRI, 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462.

ECRI MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY, QUALITY, VALIDITY, OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS DATABASE OR THE INFORMATION THEREIN. In no event shall ECRI be liable for any lost profits, or indirect or consequential damages and in no event shall ECRI's liability exceed the cost of the online database search charge for the specific information giving rise to such liability. Listing a specific model and brand of device does not in itself justify deferring a purchase or taking equipment out of service without further investigation, nor does it imply that competing devices are safer or more appropriate. Although each MDR report reflects an actual incident, readers are urged to use the information with caution. The cause of an injury or death may not have been established, and the presence of a report in this database does not reflect a judgment by the manufacturer, the FDA, or ECRI that a device defect exists or that the device was responsible for the reported death or injury.

SAMPLE RECORD [top]

ECRI ABSTRACT RECORD

MEDICAL DEVICE REPORTS RECORD

BASIC INDEX [top]

¹ Searchable in the Basic Index and in the Additional Indexes.

ADDITIONAL INDEXES [top]

² Product codes are assigned to specific medical devices. When no product codes exist for very broad classifications of medical devices, PC=00-000 is assigned.

³ Available only in MDR subfile.

⁴ Display includes Journal Name, Volume, Pagination, and Publication Date.

⁵ MDR is available only in 1984-1996.

⁶ PRP is available only in 1977-1992.

⁷ UD index is present only from UD=199909 forward.

LIMIT [top]

SORT [top]

RANK [top]

USER-DEFINED FORMAT OPTIONS [top]

PREDEFINED FORMAT OPTIONS [top]

DIRECT RECORD ACCESS [top]

Rates [top]

Rates For File: Health Devices Alerts®[198]

                                Standard  Subscrib
Cost per DialUnit:                 $6.89     $6.36
Cost per Minute:                   $2.02     $1.85
Rank Elements                      $0.00     $0.00

        <<  Standard  >>  << Subscriber >>
Format    Types   Prints    Types   Prints
     1    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00
     2    $5.00    $5.00    $2.20    $2.20
     3    $2.00    $2.00    $1.10    $1.10
     4    $5.00    $5.00    $2.20    $2.20
     5    $5.00    $5.00    $2.20    $2.20
     6    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00
     7    $4.00    $4.00    $1.10    $1.10
     8    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00    $0.00
     9    $5.00    $5.00    $2.25    $2.25
KWIC95    $0.40       NA    $0.00       NA
KWIC96    $0.40       NA    $0.00       NA

REDIST/COPY Multiplier Table:
      Range      Multiplier
        1-2       1.00
       3-25       1.50
     26-100       3.00
    101-200       4.00
    201-500       6.00
   501-1000       8.00
 1001 or more    10.00

ARCHIVE Multiplier Table:

      Range      Multiplier
       1-25       1.50
     26-200       3.00
    201-500       6.00
   501-1000       8.00
 1001 or more    10.00