Reviews and News on Medical Equipment

When a stroke occurs, victims are often left with limited mobility in their upper limbs, resulting in the need for regular physical therapy sessions. Traveling to and from a therapists office can be a tremendous burden on elderly patients, especially because successful recovery often requires several sessions per week.

To aid in their recovery, many stroke sufferers are expected to start taking advantage of an innovative breakthrough in medical equipment that uses robotic therapy. This new robot is known as the MIT-Manus and it has the industry buzzing with excitement.

Brown University researchers were able to test the robot as a physical therapy tool over a three month period and monitor its success rate with recovering stroke patients. Even in this relatively short time frame, they could see a measurable improvement in upper limb mobility.

This revolutionary new robotic medical equipment takes hold of a patient’s arm and instructs the patient to perform different tasks. Because it has the ability to sense their movement, it can even help them out when needed. Using robotic therapy in the home will save patients valuable time and speed up their return to an active lifestyle.
According to the recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the MIT-Manus will offer many therapeutic benefits to stroke patients, including a faster return to everyday mobility and function. Considering that strokes have affected over 6 million Americans, this new robotic therapist may soon become standard medical equipment for stroke patients.

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When it comes to X-ray CR machines, the name Kodak springs to mind automatically. Kodak has been a pioneer in this field with many years of experience and expertise to lend to its products and medical supply. It offers an extensive range of such systems that combine ease of use, reliability and quality and lends credibility and confidence to diagnostic procedures and medical equipment.

The Kodak direct view CR 950 system is a fast and reliable CR processor that provides a decentralized and streamlined workflow and increases productivity and ensures customer satisfaction. It allows for easy access, processing, distribution and management of digital image files and is compatible with most radiographic equipment available in the market. It can be easily integrated with PACS, RIS and laser imagers.

The salient features include the ability to process up to 86 cassettes an hour. The decentralized workflow optimizes productivity and multitasking. The option to perform most of the workflow functions remotely through a remote operations panel extends its functionality and flexibility. It also combines network features and can connect to multiple operations panels. Its ease of use and friendly and intuitive interface ensures that even those who are technically less adequate can operate it with relative ease, a feature consistent across all Kodak CR systems.

This piece of medical equipment offers connectivity to Laser printers and PACS and DICOM format devices with additional features such as multi format printing, screens for listing work and printer status, an option to customize the image size. It comes with an uninterrupted power supply feature than ensures data preservation during power loss and outages. It comes with add on software bundles including EVP software that provides wider latitude images with consistent image contrast and detail. The software offers a range of options with respect to image preparation and productivity enhancements.

Coordination of communication between patient and provider is ensured through Data entry software that can be stored on a PC workstation with remote access options.

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Whenever you select and purchase electrical medical equipment, the first step in installation is to consider the electrical needs and power source for that piece of equipment.

First assess the power needs of your medical equipment. Power needs will vary greatly. X-ray machines, for example, use a great deal of power and require special wiring and outlets that only a professional licensed electrician will be able to install and certify as meeting all code requirements. The manufacturer’s website and/or equipment manuals will have electrical specifications spelled out in detail. Share the specifications with your electrician and ensure that you and your electrician follow them to the letter. An incorrect power set up will ruin your investment in an instant, not to mention potentially causing harm to your office and/or staff.

If your purchased equipment can run off of standard current, there are still considerations which need to be made. The majority of instrumentation, especially medical equipment, has internal circuitry that is like a computer; in fact, some analyzers exceed the computing capacity of some home computers. So your equipment will need at least the same level of protection as a computer. Regular domestic current is anything but regular and steady. There are fluctuations and waves in the electricity, and too little current can be as troublesome and dangerous as too much.

The first and most basic of types of protection needed is a surge protector. If you think of the electric power as a wave, the surge protector will cut off the tops of a wave and let through electricity that falls under a certain level. Do not, however, fall into the trap of “one surge protector is as good as another.” Make sure you spend the money to buy a quality surge protector.

Even with a surge protector in place, you may not have enough protection. You see, waves that can go up (power surges), can go down (brown outs), and one can be as damaging as the other. If the electricity falls, the instrument, sensitive to changes in electricity, will “open itself,” if you will, to get as much of the electricity as it can. So, when the power comes back to normal levels, it can hit the medical supply almost as hard as a real power surge. This surge may be well below the absolute limit of the surge protector, but the circuitry in your piece of medical equipment will be fried all the same. Additionally, equipment that tries to run on inadequate current will burn itself out, much like a car that tries to drive 70 mph in first gear.

The device that can protect you from both surges and brown outs is called a power conditioner, or line conditioner. This cleans the highs and lows off of the electricity, “conditioning” the electrical power and keeping the level constant. This is the safest way to protect your new piece of medical equipment.

The other piece of equipment you may wish to consider is an un-interruptible power supply. This piece of equipment functions much like a combination surge protector and battery back-up, and can keep your equipment running for a period of time even in the event of a power failure. This can be especially important for equipment like office computers, where critical data can be lost during a power failure, or to keep medical equipment on which your patients depend running until it may be switched over to an alternative power source.

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The first consideration you need to make is the nature of the population you are going to serve. Are the demographics shifted older rather than younger? In that case you may need more assistance devices than holders for educational material. More young women than older ones? Look into lower cost pregnancy tests.

Now consider the nature of your practice. An orthopedic surgeon cannot function without an x-ray machine, and the best one he can afford. A small family practice may have limited used for a x-ray machine and a smaller, lower volume machine may serve very well.

Accessibility is the next consideration. Is the practice that you are equipping in a major urban area, with all the associated support? In that case having a number of a good medical supply companies close at hand may help you control the costs of maintaining your instruments. On the other hand, an extremely rural area may force you to stock up on expendable supplies much more than a practice in the big city.

Turn around time is another consideration. How fast does your practice need the results? Take lab tests for an example. There are several national laboratory companies that will have expedited times for several tests. This, or a relationship with the local hospital, may supersede the need to have an in house chemistry analyzer. But if you are running any kind of urgent care facility, a twenty four hour turn around time may be unacceptable. And your instrumentation has to reflect that need.

Changes within your profession may influence these decisions. Are there new innovations on the horizon that will deepen the services that you offer? If so, those might be the only consideration that you need to make. But if an existing piece of instrumentation will serve your clinical need that may be an option.

Of course, an overriding concern is cost. Various vendors offer several financing options, and used medical equipment cannot be overlooked in this economic climate. These can be the hardest questions to answer, but the cost cannot become the sole determination in your medical equipment purchase decision. Taking all these factors into account will help you to pick out the best instrumentation for your practice.

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When it comes to medical equipment, the question isn’t whether you need it. Of course you do. The question isn’t what equipment types you need, because that is easily determined by the type of services you provide and the types of patients you treat. No, the real question is whether you should buy or lease your equipment. There are good arguments to be made for either decision, but the argument essentially boils down to two issues: state of the underlying technology and volume of testing to be performed.

The first thing to consider is whether the technology behind the equipment is established or in a state of rapid change. Take the microscope, for example. The design of the microscope is fairly well fixed. If you can look into the microscope and see what you need to see, your piece of equipment is a winner. In the cases of equipment such as this, it makes sense to buy. You can usually buy this type of equipment very cost effectively, and even find good quality equipment that has been previously owned yet is still quite serviceable. Other examples of technologically stable equipment include hematology analyzers and ultrasound machines.

On the other hand, if the technology the equipment is based on is rapidly changing, it makes sense to lease the equipment. By leasing you have the option of trading up to the most advanced model available and do not find yourself still paying for a piece of equipment that is out of date and not up to current standards or specifications. For example, a machine that uses the latest enzyme chemistry to analyze a biological product, such as a chemical analyzer, may be supplanted by a new testing methodology, such as a new enzyme substrate. If you have purchased such a machine, you are suddenly in possession of an obsolete piece of equipment. If you have leased the machine, the terms of the contract should obligate the manufacturer to provide the new advance. Leasing equipment in these circumstances allows you to maintain the highest degree of accuracy and quality patient care.

The second primary consideration is whether the piece of equipment is used occasionally or whether it is a high volume machine. Machines that are in constant use or must be used to produce a large number of results during the day are more likely to be subject to catastrophic failure. An example of a machine of this type would be the chemistry analyzer we mentioned earlier. The leasing company should provide manufacturer-approved maintenance and service and be able to provide rapid repairs or replacement in the event of failure to minimize downtime of crucial services.

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