To be ready for everything that might walk through their doors, hospitals must maintain a comprehensive inventory of medical supplies. An OPD consultation room, for instance, could normally be furnished with doctors’ tables and chairs, an examination couch, and other common tools including BP monitors, ECG machines, and thermometers. To provide prompt and comprehensive care, it is essential to keep essential medical equipment on hand. The necessary standard medical equipment for hospitals to operate efficiently is listed in the article that follows.
Medical Equipment for Storage and Transport
Having a streamlined storage area for hospitals and other medical facilities is necessary for day-to-day operations. Healthcare facilities store a massive quantity of supplies such as medicines, surgical kits, diagnostic tools, protective equipment, linens, and personal care items. By implementing adequate medical equipment storage and maintenance tactics, healthcare providers can optimize their facilities for efficiency and provide a high level of patient care. The most common equipment used to store and transfer medical supplies includes surgical case carts, storage carts, and utility carts.
Durable Medical Equipment for Hospitals
Apart from storage and transport equipment, it is also essential for a hospital to have a sufficient supply of Durable Medical Equipment. This type of medical equipment is mainly used to provide therapeutic benefits for specific conditions and can help a patient with a disability, illness, or injury live more independently. They are durable, reusable, and designed for long-term use. Standard Durable Medical Equipment (DME) includes stretchers, manual/electric wheelchairs, assistive equipment like walkers, canes, crutches, hospital beds, traction equipment, pressure mattresses, insulin pumps, and nebulizers, patient lifts, oxygen tanks, and Lancet devices.
Diagnostic Medical Equipment
Diagnostic medical tools are used to diagnose a patient’s condition in a hospital setting. Based on the symptoms described, a test is performed using the appropriate equipment to evaluate the patient. The doctor or technician will look for any abnormalities in the affected body parts causing the symptoms to be exhibited.
The most fundamental medical devices for diagnosing patients include patient scales, stethoscopes, dopplers, and pulse oximeters. A stat-lab usually consists of a cell counter, biochemistry analyzer, microscope, incubator, centrifuge, and refrigerator. In addition, an X-Ray and ultrasound machine is essential for maternity and general surgery/orthopaedics. Smaller facilities that cannot afford a digital X-ray can opt for an HF X-Ray with a CR System to digitize the images. Based on their budget, healthcare centres may further choose to invest in medical equipment devices such as computed tomography (CT scan), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan), and electrocardiogram machines, to name a few.
Critical Care / Life-Support Equipment
As the name implies, life-support equipment includes medical devices intended to monitor and preserve the bodily functions of a patient. There are several life support machines available in the medical field today, such as:
Patient Monitors: Patient monitors are medical devices that track a patient’s vitals and state of health, and other medical parameters during intensive or critical care. Patient monitors are a necessity in any hospital medical equipment list. Monitoring can be performed by continuously measuring specific parameters such as temperature, NIBP, SPO2, ECG, and ETCo2.
Infusion Pumps: Infusion pumps are designed to reliably inject controlled amounts of fluids, medications, and other forms of treatment into the patient’s system. They are typically used intravenously, but epidural or arterial infusions can also be found.
Heart-lung Machines: Also known as cardio-pulmonary bypass (CB) devices, they provide a form of extracorporeal circulation of blood and oxygen by temporarily functioning as the heart or lungs of a patient during surgery.
Incubators: An incubator is used for neonatal intensive care. It mimics the environmental conditions suitable for newborn babies. It is often used with other medical equipment such as oxygen hoods and ventilators.
Medical Ventilators: A ventilator helps move oxygen in and out of the lungs. It is used on patients who have trouble breathing or are incapable of delivering an adequate oxygen supply to their bodies. They can be hand-operated using a bag valve mask or run and operated by a computer.
Dialysis Machines: Dialysis is a renal replacement therapy that involves removing excess solutes or toxins from the blood. Dialysis machines are essential for patients with kidney damage or low kidney function.
Defibrillators: Defibrillators are used to control heart fibrillation by applying an electric current to the chest wall or heart. They are frequently used in life-threatening situations such as tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmias to restore normal rhythm to the heart.
Operation Theatre / Surgery Equipment
The success of a medical procedure depends on the accuracy of the surgical equipment and instruments. Several such tools are used in surgery, each with their purpose, such as surgical lights, tables, electrosurgical units, cautery machines, anaesthesia machines, fluid warmers, and sterilizers. It also includes surgical caps, gowns, gloves, or glasses (for the surgical team) and gauze and drapes (for patients). Keeping these on hand is extremely important for the operational success of a hospital and the health care provided within it.
Conclusion
Healthcare professionals are only as good as the tools available, and medical innovation has been a long-time necessity. As the COVID-19 pandemic made very clear, having enough quality medical equipment can mean the difference between life and death when facing ongoing health concerns.
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