CME Insider's Blog Posts

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, there is an increasing trend toward using more plastic medical equipment in healthcare. For medical facilities laboring under escalating costs at every turn and labor shortages, lightweight, cost-effective, and, in many cases disposable, plastic is the golden goose for the challenges keeping administrators up at night. 

In the short term, disposable plastic medical equipment may indeed ease burdens on staff and budgets, but is it the best for the long term? Sustainability advocates would answer with a resounding “NO” and answers among healthcare professionals are variable and often dependent on the equipment in question.

Despite the trend toward more plastic in healthcare, stainless steel still plays a leading role in healthcare equipment. And for good reason.

It is unfathomable to imagine some medical equipment constructed of anything other than stainless steel. 

As the byproduct of life saving lasers, electrosurgical processes, radiofrequency devices, hyfrecators, ultrasonic scalpels and other power tools, wisps of surgical smoke hanging in the air represent hope and healing for patients.

For OR staff surgical smoke is an aerosol of bacteria, viruses, carcinogenic and mutagenic cells, ocular irritations, and respiratory hazards.

Medical refrigerators are important pieces of equipment for hospitals, pharmacies, and other medical facilities. They offer a cold storage environment for vaccines and medical products sensitive to temperature.

Although on the surface a refrigerator seems to be a refrigerator, in the healthcare environment not all medical refrigerators are appropriate for all applications.

Invented in 1867, the medical thermometer is still one of the most widely used medical devices in healthcare. Since the accuracy and reliability of the temperature reading depends on the temperature measuring point used, choosing the right thermometer for your healthcare setting is important.

Even in a medical setting seconds matter in an emergency.

Properly organized crash cart contents can tip the balance between life and death.

With that in mind this article has been created for the purpose of offering recommendations for crash cart setup and providing a comprehensive crash cart checklist of medical equipment, medications, and supplies.

Capital medical equipment, equipment that is neither disposable nor consumable, is used daily in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. 

It is a significant investment. It is considered an asset. It contributes to the long-term profitability of healthcare facilities.

Choosing and vetting capital medical equipment can be stressful and all consuming, but it does not need to be.

In today’s healthcare environment high-tech equipment is center stage. Advanced medical equipment is integral to accurate diagnoses, effective treatment, and critical lifesaving. That biomedical equipment needs to be in optimal working order at all times is a nonnegotiable point. It is here that biomedical equipment services become an important player on the field of healthcare.

We live in a society that, in many ways, standardizes and measures commitment to excellence through accreditation. Organizations across industries seek accreditation to publicly show their commitment to quality within their landscape.

Facilities within the healthcare industry are no different.

Who doesn’t love a good recliner?

From weary healthcare professionals melting into a residential recliner at the end of a long shift or the dialysis patient settling into a medical recliner for life saving treatment, there is nothing like it.