Medical equipments are devices that are used in hospitals and medical laboratories to diagnosis, monitor and to treat medical conditions. Medical equipments are also called “armamentarium”.
Medical equipments are classified into 3 types which are based on their usage. They are diagnostic medical equipments, medical monitors and laboratory equipments.
Diagnostic medical equipment: Diagnostic medical equipments are used to diagnose the medical condition of a candidate. Once diagnosis is done, the doctor starts the treatment. There are several diagnosis equipments available which are used based on the condition of a candidate. Some of them are:
- Sphygmomanometer is used to measure blood pressure. Blood pressure is an important factor that is linked with several diseases. In olden days, mercury containing sphygmomanometers were used, but today they are replaced with digital sphygmomanometers.
- Stethoscope is used to check the heart beat and to listen the flow of blood to arteries, veins and lungs. It is a basic diagnostic tool used to diagnose most of the diseases. It is used along with sphygmomanometer to record blood pressure.
- Thermometers are used to record the body temperature. Now a days, electronic thermometers are used to speed up the process of recording body temperature.
- Ophthalmoscopes are hand-held devices used to look into the fundus of the eye. It is used to examine the health condition of retina and vitreous humor.
- Otoscopes are the hand held devices used to look into the ear. It has a magnification lens that makes it easy to view the inner parts of ear.
Medical monitors: Medical monitors are used by medical staff to observe the health condition of patient continuously. Some of the medical monitors are:
- Cardiac monitors are used to record the rhythm of heart. It involves electrocardiogram and ECG.
- Hemodynamic monitors are used to record the blood pressure and blood flow in the circulatory system.
- Respiratory monitors are used to measure the dissolved oxygen in blood.
- Neurological monitors are used to measure intracranial pressure and supply of oxygen to brain tissue.
Laboratory equipment: Laboratory equipments are used to analyze the presence of abnormal constituents in blood, urine and gene samples. The basic equipment used in medical laboratory are petri dishes, disposable gloves, cover slips, beakers, etc. Instruments used in medical laboratory are:
- Ultra centrifuge is used to separate particles dispersed in the blood or urine based on the molecular weight.
- Hematology analyzer are used to count the blood cells and determination of sedimentation rate.
- Radioimmunoassay is used to detect the presence of viruses, proteins and hormones in blood. Now a days it has been replaced with ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay).