Get to know how to get ISO 13485 certification

 

In this article, we will learn how to get ISO 13485 certification. Now what is ISO 13485? ISO 13485 is a standard company which is either involved in manufacturing or providing services in the medical device industry. ISO 13485 act as guidelines and provides a structure for companies to establish their Quality Management System.

Simply put, ISO 13485 is a set of requirements defined by The International Organization for Standardization, designed to be used by medical device manufacturers as a form of quality management system. But then again, there is a big difference between being ISO 13485 certified and being compliant with ISO 13485:2016, the medical devices quality management systems standard.

• We provide regulatory consulting for medical devices manufacturing.
• We also assist with the establishment registration and device listings to make suitable the supply of medical devices in the US.

ISO 13485 was written to support medical device manufacturers in designing quality management systems that establish and maintain the effectiveness of their processes. It ensures the consistent design, development, production, installation, and delivery of medical devices that are safe for their intended purpose.

Anyone can claim compliance with the standard. Certification, however, requires that an accredited certification body has followed by the requirements. To maintain that certification, you must maintain your quality system’s effectiveness and endure both annual surveillance audits and a re-certification audit once every three years.

How to get ISO 13485 certification?

Step one:

There are six steps in the ISO 13485 certification process, but that does not mean there are only six tasks. The first step in every quality system is planning. Most people refer to the Deming Cycle or Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle when they describe how to implement a quality system.

However, when you are implementing a full quality system, you need to break the “doing” part of the PDCA cycle into many small tasks rather than one big task. You also can’t implement a quality system alone. Quality systems are not the responsibility of the quality manager alone. Implementing a quality system is the responsibility of everyone in top management.

Step 2 – Conducting your first internal audit

The purpose of the internal audit is to verify the effectiveness of the quality system and to identify nonconformities before the certification body auditor finds them. To successfully achieve this secondary objective, it is essential to have a more rigorous internal audit than you expect for the certification audit. Therefore, the internal audit should be of equal duration or longer in duration than the certification audit. The internal audit should not consist of a desktop review of procedures. Reviewing procedures should be part of gap analysis (i.e., task 6 above) that is conducted on draft procedures before they are approved. Internal audits should utilize the process approach to auditing, and the auditor should apply a risk-based approach.

After your internal audit, you will receive an internal audit report from the auditor. You should also expect findings from the internal auditor, and you should expect opportunities for improvement (OFI) to be identified.

Step 3 – Initiating corrective actions

Corrective actions should be initiated for each internal audit finding immediately, to make sure the findings are corrected and prevented from repeat occurrence before the Stage 1 audit. It will take a minimum of 30 days to implement the most corrective actions. Depending upon the scheduling of the internal audit, there may not be sufficient time to complete the corrective actions.

However, you should at least initiate a CAPA for each finding, perform an investigation of the root-cause, and begin to implement corrective actions. Monitoring and measuring of each process is the best source of preventive actions, while internal audits are typically the best source of corrective actions.  Any quality problems identified during validation are also excellent sources of corrective actions because the validation can be repeated as a method of demonstrating that the corrective actions are effective.

However, your ISO 13485 certification auditor will focus on non-conforming products, complaints, and service as the most critical sources of corrective actions.

Step 4 – Conducting your first management review 

In addition to completing a full quality system audit before your stage 1 audit, you are also expected to complete at least one management review. To make sure that you have inputs for each of the 12 requirements in the ISO 13485:2016 standard, it is recommended to conduct your management review only after you have completed your full quality system audit and initiated some corrective actions. If possible, you should also conduct supplier audits for any contract manufacturers or contract sterilizers. It is recommended to use a template for that management review that is organized in the order of the required inputs to ensure that none of the necessary inputs are skipped.

Step 5 – Stage 1, Initial ISO 13485 Certification Audit

In 2006, the ISO 17021 Standard was introduced for assessing certification bodies. This is the standard that defines how certification bodies shall go about conducting your initial certification audit, annual surveillance of your quality system, and the re-certification of your quality system.

 In the past, certification bodies would typically conduct a “desktop” audit of your company before the on-site visit to make sure that you have all the required procedures. However, ISO 17021 requires that certification bodies conduct a Stage 1 audit that assesses the readiness of your company before conducting a Stage 2 audit. Therefore, even if the Stage 1 audit is conducted remotely, the certification body is expected to interview process owners and sample records to verify that the quality system has been implemented. Certification body auditors will also typically verify that your company has conducted a full quality system audit and at least one management review.

Finally, the auditor will usually select a process such as corrective action and preventive action (CAPA) to make sure that you are identifying problems with the quality system and taking appropriate measures to address those problems.

Step 6 – Stage 2, Initial ISO 13485 Certification Audit

The Stage 2 initial ISO 13485 certification audit will verify that all regulatory requirements have been met for any market you plan to distribute in. The auditor will complete an MDSAP checklist that includes all of the regulatory requirements for each of the countries that recognize MDSAP: 1) the USA, 2) Canada, 3) Brazil, 4) Austria, and 5) Japan.

The auditor will also sample records from every process in your quality system to verify that the procedures and processes are fully implemented. This audit will typically be at least four days in duration unless multiple auditors are working in an audit team.

The audit objectives for the Stage 2 ISO 13485 certification audit specifically include evaluating the effectiveness of your quality system in the following areas:

1. Applicable regulatory requirements
2. Product and process-related technologies
3. Technical documentation

Read more - how to get ISO 13485 certification

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