Most Common Medical Equipment in Hospitals
Hospitals are home to numerous medical departments. Some, such as St. Jude’s, is known for its excellent research center, oncology, and children’s health specialists. Los Angeles’ Harbor Biomedical is home to groundbreaking research. No matter their location, hospitals aim to cater to the largest segment of the population as possible.
To do this, hospitals need more than just experienced staff — they need well-calibrated, high-tech equipment to provide quality care. Obviously, ‘equipment’ is a broad term that encompasses thousands of devices and advances made over the course of decades.
However, there are some types of equipment common to almost all United States hospitals. Below, we detail some of the medical devices that are usually found within hospital facilities.
Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs are crucial to the daily workings of a hospital. From mothers after birth to patients recovering from surgery, the wheelchair is a reliable piece of medical equipment.
Wheelchair repair is crucial for hospitals. These devices must be stable and well-oiled to give patients the best experience possible.
Common wheelchairs at hospitals are manual, however many hospitals, especially those with large emergency or neurology departments have electronic wheelchairs.
Medical Scales
Medical scales are usually associated with primary care offices and checkups. But knowing a patient’s weight is important for all doctors, no matter where they work. Medical scales have been used since the beginning of medicine as a benchmark for health.
Medical scales come in many forms. Some are step-on step-off, while others are built into hospital beds or have a larger area for specialty cases.
It is crucial that these devices are accurate; for anesthesia-related purposes, knowing a patient’s weight is important to the success of many surgeries.
EKG Machines
These machines are important for any hospital that deals with patients with heart conditions. In other words, it would be rare to find a hospital without an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) machine.
MRI Machines
MRI machines are a medical innovation that have saved lives. These machines can diagnose anything from broken bones to tumors.
Before the advent of MRI machines, spinal and neural injuries were difficult to diagnose. Furthermore, MRI machines have also aided researchers who study the brain. In the future, doctors working with MRI machines may make advances towards curing diseases such as Alzheimers, dementia, and some types of cancers.
Stretchers
Stretchers are used not just in hospitals, but also by emergency medical response teams in ambulances to support patients to the hospital.
Due to their abundance, it is important that this equipment is well-maintained — hospitals could face lawsuits or entire medical treatments could fail if a stretcher collapsed or stopped working in an urgent situation.
Defibrillators
Defibrillators are a constant in hospitals. Many emergency departments require these in case a patient comes in unconscious. At the same time, during risky surgeries, defibrillators may be necessary to restart a patient’s heart.
Ensuring that hospitals have working defibrillators is very important. Defibrillator repair needs to be high-quality and frequent.
Anesthesia Machines
These machines are used by anesthesiologists. It takes many years of study to be qualified to sedate patients. Therefore, these machines are very high-tech and blend chemistry with machinery.
Anesthesia machine is a blanket term that covers a variety of devices needed to sedate a patient. However, they are all needed and are in high demand due to their usefulness in complicated surgeries and painful procedures.