essential medical equipment for the icu

introduction about icu and its equipment

Major hospitals house Intensive Care Units representing the pinnacle of patient care and therapy for severely sick patients with possibly treatable life-threatening diseases. Critical illness or injury is defined as a disease or injury which acutely or sharply impairs one of more essential organ systems in your body to a severe extent that there is a good likelihood of rapid or life-threatening worsening in the patient’s state. Critical care, often known as intensive care, is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary specialty created especially for the treatment of patients who already have or are in the early stages of organ dysfunction that poses a serious threat to their lives. What distinguishes critical care medicine is its ability to briefly stabilize and, if required, restore the functioning of several failing organ systems, including the kidneys, heart, and lungs. Thus, it is pretty evident that an ICU is a protected healthcare facility which requires sophisticated and specialized critical care equipment for careful observation, prompt treatment, and frequently prolonged care of patients with critical injuries or major organ failures. 

intent of icu equipment

Maintaining vital functions is the goal of intensive care in order to stop further physiological degradation, mortality rates, and minimize illness in severely sick patients. The delivery of intensive care is a part of the spectrum of primary, secondary, and institutional care, with the secondary-care setting accounting for the majority of these services. An ICU may be set up and configured to treat patients with a variety of diseases, or it may be set up and configured to treat patients with particular conditions with specialist treatment. For instance, a neuro-medical ICU provides treatment for patients who have just undergone neurosurgical surgeries and need equipment for tracking and evaluating the brain and spinal cord as well as those who have serious illnesses affecting the nervous system. The same goes with general critical care as they have all the necessary intensive care unit equipment needed to care for the patients. 

A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is created and furnished to provide care for newborns that are unwell, were delivered prematurely, or have a problem that requires ongoing observation. Patients with burns, gunshot wounds, and vehicle accident injuries receive specialist injury and wound care in a trauma/burn ICU.  

equipment under general critical care are:

• Anesthesia Machine
• ICU Bed
• Respiratory Ventilator
• Medical Stretcher
• Infusion Pump
• Syringe Pump
• Ultrasound Machine
• EKG Machine
• Enteral Feeding Pump
• Sequential Compression Device
• Vital Signs Monitor

equipment under airway management and ventilator accessories are:

• Breathing Circuits
• Video Laryngoscopes
• Endotracheal Tubes
• Cannulas
• Anesthesia Masks
• Intubating Stylets
• Laryngoscope Handles and Blades
• Nasioharyngeal/Oropharyngeal/Guedel Airways

icu patient monitor accessories are:

• Batteries
• Patient Cables
• Modules

product and when needed 

Here’s a list of ICU Equipment products and when you would need it- 

Ventilators: A ventilator, sometimes known as a “breathing machine,” assists a patient with breathing in part or entirely. Ventilators are used to assist breathing or the lungs’ ability to operate. The device uses a mask that fits snugly or a tube that is placed into the trachea to pressure air into the lungs. To assist the body to receive sufficient oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, this respiratory assistance may be used. ICU patients occasionally require the assistance of a ventilator because they are not alert enough or powerful enough to breathe safely on their own. 

Monitors: Patients in the ICU who are severely unwell necessitate careful supervision. The “Vital Signs” of several patients in the ICU, which include heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure, and respiration rate, are shown on a computerized monitor. These monitors are visible to the ICU care team from both the main unit desk and the patient’s bedside, enabling them to respond rapidly to any changes that may arise.

Dialysis Machines: A dialysis machine, sometimes known as a “artificial kidney,” is a medical procedure used to alleviate this issue, waste, and some toxins from the blood in place of the kidneys. A customized IV is inserted into a big vein in the neck or thigh to collect the blood for dialysis. Blood exits the IV, travels through the dialysis unit, gets filtered, and is subsequently reintroduced to the body. Dialysis can replace a portion of the kidneys’ functions, but it typically does not promote kidney recovery after injury. However, the sort of dialysis used for ICU patients is often utilized for brief periods of time, whereas some individuals beyond the hospitals need on it for years.

IV Pumps: The use of an intravenous catheter is required to provide a large number of the drugs and treatments provided in the ICU into the bloodstream directly (IV). The ICU doctors and nurses can administer these drugs using a programmed IV pump in the form of ongoing stream (infusions) or supplementary dosages (boluses). When an alert goes off, you’ll frequently observe the nursing staff setting doses, attaching medications to IV pumps, and taking care of the patients.

Feeding Tubes: Patients who are very unwell and unable to eat can receive nutrients and fluids through feeding tubes. The tube is frequently put into the stomach using the nose (nasogastric or NG tube). The skin may occasionally be used to insert feeding tubes straight into the stomach (gastronomy tube or PEG). Each patient in a serious condition receives the optimum nutrition with the assistance of the ICU dieticians when selecting a liquid food composition. The patient’s stomach is filled with this liquid meal combination utilizing a computerized pump that is inserted into the feeding tube.

Crash Cart: A crash cart must be used in an ICU when a patient’s condition suddenly deteriorates. Many facilities, such as hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, emergency care centers, etc., have crash carts accessible. Equipment and medications are both included in a crash cart. It is a crucial piece of equipment, and the cart also has other tools. Namely:

• IV start packs with bag valve masks
• Angiocaths, IV tubing, and gauze
• preparing alcohol
• Defibrillator and monitor
• Nasal syringe adapter
• The training of the cart is listed on a checklist.

ECG Electrodes: Here is one another piece of an essential ICU machine. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a graph that shows the timing of a person’s cardiac electrical activity.. They identify a cardiac cycle’s electrical activity. The self-adhesive circular patches and the thin paper stickers are the two electrode types that are most frequently utilized.

Urine Catheter: The discharge of urine is collected using this specific piece of equipment. Using this, the staff assesses the patient’s steadiness and overall health for additional medical purposes.

faqs:

1. What are the medical equipments used in ICU?

The different types of medical equipments used in an ICU are- Monitor, ventilator, IV Catheter, Urine Catheter, Pleur-evac, Nasogastric tube (NG tube), ECG electrodes, Nasogastric suction, Pulse Oximeter, Crash Cart, Anesthesia Machine, EKG Machine, and more. 

2. What are the tubes used in ICU?

There are four types of tubes used in an ICU:

1. Nasogastric Tube: In critical care, a nasogastric tube is the most typical form of feeding tube utilized. The nurse or doctor inserts these lengthy, thin tubes into the patient’s nose, down the esophagus (the food pipe), and then into the stomach.

2. Intravenous feeding: If the feeding cannot be absorbed through the stomach, sustenance is given via a central line inserted into the veins. Since there is a possibility of infection and stomach feeding is more physiological, this approach is typically not the preferred option for feeding.

3. Nasojejunal tube: A nasojejunal tube may be implanted if there are issues with the nasogastric tube as a result of feed intake. These tubes resemble nasogastric tubes, except the jejunum—a portion of the small intestine—instead of the stomach—is where the tube’s head is located.

4. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube: The skin of the abdomen is penetrated to introduce a PEG tube into the stomach. These tubes are placed if the patient requires nourishment for an extended period of time or poses a high danger of aspirating food particles into the lungs.

3. What is ventilator in ICU?

The respiratory mechanism is supported or taken over by a ventilator, which pumps air into the lungs. In critical care units (ICU), patients may require the assistance of a ventilator. In cases where a patient is unable to breathe properly on their own, doctors employ ventilators. They might be under deep anesthesia, have a breathing disorder, or both to explain this.