Medical Equipment Choices For Mobile Patient Care

Most medical equipment and instruments are not designed to be mobile. Much of the equipment is large and bulky, and some, such as chemical analyzers, has specific requirements like a perfectly level service. However, there are some types of equipment that you can include in a mobile unit. Generally this calls for special handling and documentation.

If you are considering providing mobile patient care, the first step is to determine what you need to provide versus what you want to provide. If the stated purpose of the mobile unit is to provide a specific service, such as mobile mammography or mobile imaging, you will have a clear picture from the beginning of what you need. After you know what you need, you are pretty much limited to what the vendors have available that will meet your needs. On the positive side, purchasing this type of equipment will generally mean new medical equipment that comes with manufacturer support, and technical and educational support. The negative side is that you had better bring your check book: this will be expensive.

In the case of a mobile medical facility designed to provide general care, your equipment and instrumentation needs will be dictated by the population you are seeking to serve. There is equipment and instrumentation that has been designed for use in a moving vehicle, even equipment and instrumentation designed for use on moving hospital ships in high seas. If you want this kind of set up, be prepared to bring your check book: this will also be quite expensive.

On the other hand, there are some pieces of equipment that are either already imminently transportable, or available in hand-held forms. Consider infusion pumps, defibrillators, blood sugar monitoring equipment, or anything else that might be included in an ambulance or transport vehicle. Most of this equipment is good for immediate care situations, but not necessarily good for gathering diagnostic information.

If you need diagnostic information, you will probably have better luck using your mobile unit into a collection site for lab or other services, and transporting the samples to a hospital or private lab.

Mobile medical centers are generally very expensive, and require community involvement, either at the local or even the state level, to become realized. A better way to serve an under served or rural population would be to either invest money into a good transport system for getting patients to already existing care facilities, or to build a care facility in the area to which patients can come.

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