Sunday, October 18, 2009

Health Education - Know Medical Equipment Types

Without a doubt, medical professionals working in hospitals, offices and other health facilities heavily depend on medical equipment in caring for their patients. As such tools are fundamental to perform their job duties, it is best to be aware that there are different types of medical equipment. Ranging from x-ray machines to heart monitor equipments, all take part in just as an important responsibility in patient care as the doctor, nurse or technician who uses them.

Diagnostic medical equipment is a scientific kind of equipment used in the early process of health care which is diagnosis stage. Such instruments embrace ultrasound machines, magnetic resonance imaging, computer-assisted tomography, and x-ray machines.

Therapeutic medical tools instrumentation, which aids in healing, is also known as life support equipments. Such machines include infusion pumps, lasers, and LASIK surgical machines. These kind of medical instruments maintain bodily functions when patients' body can no longer perform these functions on their own. Such life support machines also include heart-lung machines, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), dialysis machines and ventilators.

Medical monitoring instruments are crucial as medical staff use these to constantly monitor a patient's medical state. Such equipments include the electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG), and blood pressure.

Another critical type of medical equipment is the automated medical laboratory equipment. Such tools are used to analyze blood, urine, and genes samples. These instruments available to hospitals, physician offices, and laboratories are made available through the research of diagnostic corporations.

Nowadays, many companies are involved in providing these different types of hospital equipment. It is a booming business as hospital equipments like catheters; stomach tube, rubber sheets, surgical rubber bulbs, etc. are commonly used.

Nonetheless it is an imperative that all suppliers strictly comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act whatever kind of medical equipment they provide. This is essentially to protect patients' privacy and records.

Medical Equipment Leasing is a Better Way to Go For a Private Practice

With the prices of healthcare these days rising, many people are complaining about the seemingly overzealous nature of the cost of each entry on their bill. Although paying eight dollars for an aspirin, the same aspirin you can purchase downstairs in a bottle of 100 in the gift shop is an example of a ridiculous justification of expenditures, the fact is that most things in a hospital are being undercharged. The problem is more so in the structure of the pricing and who gets charged what, but the bottom line is, hospitals are desperately trying to stay afloat. The debate over costs and charges will go on, but the debate skips the more important problem. Many don't realize that medical equipment is expensive, and increasingly getting more expensive as technology gets better. The costs of the research and development of that equipment is placed on the initial price of new equipment so those costs are essentially delegated to the patients- after all this is still a business. Another option that helps hospitals stay on budget while not having to charge ridiculous rates is medical equipment leasing.

The beauty of medical equipment leasing is that you can pay a lower rental fee for equipment and only when you need it. You don't have to buy a whole machine that your hospital (a private practice for example) may only use for several months. Instead you can lease it for a certain amount of time, and pay much less than you would for new equipment. You also don't have to worry about selling it later as your savings will be reflected in the leasing costs and the lack of ownership.

Medical equipment leasing is also a more secure option because when you lease equipment it is usually covered under a warranty, much like a rental property is. If the equipment breaks down, the leasing company will either fix it or replace it, which saves you from the high costs of hiring a technician, or worse, loosing your entire investment on say a used piece of equipment that dies after a year of use. There are many different companies that lease medical equipment, and with different companies the prices change as well as options for your leasing contract. This is a good thing because it breeds competitive pricing and companies will always carry the latest equipment for lease to try to win your business.

The Importance of Medical Surgical Instruments and Inspections

When we think about doctors, what is the first thing we envision? For many it's the hospital, the sick patients, and the medical surgical instruments. Of all these things, the most important is the front line of defense to the patient, the instruments. If the hospital is accommodating, lighting is good, and the doctor is well trained and professional, but his instruments are either missing, lacking, in poor shape, or in poor repair, this could be the difference between life and death for the patient.

Doctors are well aware of this important fact and so are the many organizations that assure medical surgical instruments are in good repair and the hospital is stocked with the tools they need. Even if you have a private practice, you are required to have the right tools for whatever surgery or treatment you're performing. Your tools need to be in optimal shape, although used is ok, there is a limit to how much you can let your tools deteriorate before it is illegal as well as unethical to use them. Anything that, for example, will be used in surgery, touching the inner workings of a human (or for vets, animals) body must pass a strict inspection and must be sterilized as well.

Hospitals are inspected constantly to make sure the medical surgical instruments as well as the rest of the facility passes muster. Organizations that do this have been created for a variety of reasons over the years, mainly the lawsuits that have come from problems caused by faulty or corroded equipment. These groups have passed legislatures that create laws that govern these inspections. There was once a time when doctors' tools and facilities as well as their very practice of medicine weren't under such scrutiny, but luckily those days are far in the past.

Today, when a doctor purchases new equipment, the manufacture of the equipment is required to provide a warranty for the item and a guarantee that they passed stringent safety inspections as well as being built with certain quality standards. All these things make our medical facilities, doctors, and surgeries safer for the patient, the doctors, and assure that the equipment that the doctor uses is not going to cause complications inherent in past accidents such as using non-sterile equipment or improperly manufactured equipment.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Todorka Zivreva

Todorka Zivreva 08417

Overview
The medical equipment industry has been rapid changes in the past five years driven by changes in both technology and treatment protocols for patiens. The term Medical Devices, as defined in the Food and Drugs Act, covers a wide range of health or medical instruments used in the treatment, mitigation, diagnosis or prevention of a disease or abnormal physical condition.

A medical equpment is a product which is used for medical purposes in patients, in diagnosis, therapy or surgery. If applied to the body, the effect of the medical device is primarily physical, in contrast to pharmaceutal drugs, which exert a biochemical effect. Specific regional definitions of medical device vary slightly as detailed below. The medical devices are included in the category Medical technology. There are so many medical devices, which are so important in our lifes.

Patients who have ever had a knee implant or worn a catheter know firsthand how implantable medical devices have become a way of life for millions. But what makes such devices compatible with the human body? How do device makers ensure that the implants they market will not be rejected by the body’s immune system?
Some people are sceptical, but some find their hope in medical devices so they can have a healthy life.

The Journal of Medical Device Regulation (JMDR) is intended to educate, provide professional guidance, develop core competence of regulatory professionals, and promote debate on fundamental and topical matters within the medical device industry. In addition to publishing medical device Regulatory Affairs review and discussion articles by opinion leaders from the device community, the Journal summarises the news headlines from around the world and provides useful reference information in the form of charts and briefing documents.

The Journal is a quarterly, subscription-only publication which is currently only available in electronic format. The primary language of the medical device regulatory affairs Journal is English but abstracts of key articles are provided in a number of other languages. Feature articles in other primary European languages will also be included from time to time.

The Journal has a Bookstore featuring publications on medical device regulation and related topics, and an industry events calendar.

Validation in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry is defined as the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment. It is a requirement for Good Manifacturing Practices and other regulatory requirements. Since a wide variety of procedures, processes, and activities need to be validated, the field of validation is divided into a number of subsections including the following:

  • Cleaning Validation
  • Process Validation
  • Analytical Method Validation
  • Computer System Validation

Similarly, the activity of qualifying systems and equipment is divided into a number of subsections including the following:

  • Design qualification
  • Installation qualification
  • Operational qualification
  • Process qualification
Medical Device
Ecosystem