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Home Medical Equipment
This article discusses the definitions and types of home medical equipment (HME), also known as durable medical equipment (DME), and durable medical equipment prosthetics and orthotics (DMEPOS). HME / DMEPOS Home medical equipment is a category of devices used for patients whose care is being managed from a home or other private facility managed by a nonprofessional caregiver or family member. It is often referred to as "durable" medical equipment (DME) as it is intended to withstand repeated use by non-professionals or the patient, and is appropriate for use in the home. Medical supplies of an expendable nature, such as bandages, rubber gloves and irrigating kits are not considered by Medicare to be DME. Within the US medical and insurance industries, the following acronyms are used to describe home medical equipment: * DME: Durable Medical Equipment * HME: Home Medical Equipment * DMEPOS: Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies Types of home medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medical Equipment
A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assurance before regulating governments allow marketing of the device in their country. As a general rule, as the associated risk of the device increases the amount of testing required to establish safety and efficacy also increases. Further, as associated risk increases the potential benefit to the patient must also increase. Discovery of what would be considered a medical device by modern standards dates as far back as c. 7000 BC in Baluchistan where Neolithic dentists used flint-tipped drills and bowstrings. Study of archeology and Roman medical literature also indicate that many types of medical devices were in widespread use during the time of ancient Rome. In the United States it wasn't until the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glucose Meter
A glucose meter, also referred to as a "glucometer", is a medical device for determining the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It can also be a strip of glucose paper dipped into a substance and measured to the glucose chart. It is a key element of glucose testing including home blood glucose monitoring (HBGM) by people with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia. A small drop of blood, obtained by pricking the skin with a Blood lancet, lancet, is placed on a disposable test strip that the meter reads and uses to calculate the blood glucose level. The meter then displays the level in units of mg/dL or mmol/L. Since approximately 1980, a primary goal of the management of diabetes mellitus type 1, type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus has been achieving closer-to-normal levels of glucose in the blood for as much of the time as possible, guided by HBGM several times a day. The benefits include a reduction in the occurrence rate and severity of Diabetes mellitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traction Splint
A traction splint most commonly refers to a splinting device that uses straps attaching over the pelvis or hip as an anchor, a metal rod(s) to mimic normal bone stability and limb length, and a mechanical device to apply traction (used in an attempt to reduce pain, realign the limb, and minimize vascular and neurological complication) to the limb. The use of traction splints to treat complete long bone fractures of the femur is common in prehospital care. Evidence to support their usage, however, is poor. A dynamic traction splint has also been developed for intra-articular fractures of the phalanges of the hand. Medical uses Traction splints are most commonly used for fractures of the femur (or upper leg bone). For these fractures they may reduce pain and decrease the amount of bleeding which occurs into the soft tissues of the leg. Some state that they are appropriate for middle tibia fractures which are displaced or bent. Others state they should not be used for lower l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulse Oximetry
Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive method for monitoring a person's oxygen saturation. Peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) readings are typically within 2% accuracy (within 4% accuracy in 95% of cases) of the more accurate (and invasive) reading of arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) from arterial blood gas analysis. But the two are correlated well enough that the safe, convenient, noninvasive, inexpensive pulse oximetry method is valuable for measuring oxygen saturation in clinical use. The most common approach is ''transmissive pulse oximetry''. In this approach, a sensor device is placed on a thin part of the patient's body, usually a fingertip or earlobe, or an infant's foot. Fingertips and earlobes have higher blood flow rates than other tissues, which facilitates heat transfer. The device passes two wavelengths of light through the body part to a photodetector. It measures the changing absorbance at each of the wavelengths, allowing it to determine the absorbances due to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosthetic
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of the missing body part. Amputee rehabilitation is primarily coordinated by a physiatrist as part of an inter-disciplinary team consisting of physiatrists, prosthetists, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. Prostheses can be created by hand or with computer-aided design (CAD), a software interface that helps creators design and analyze the creation with computer-generated 2-D and 3-D graphics as well as analysis and optimization tools. Types A person's prosthesis should be designed and assembled according to the person's appearance and functional needs. For instance, a person may need a transra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pill Splitting
Pill-splitting refers to the practice of splitting a tablet or pill to provide a lower dose of the active ingredient, or to obtain multiple smaller doses, either to reduce cost or because the pills available provide a larger dose than required. Many pills that are suitable for splitting (aspirin tablets for instance) come pre-scored so that they may easily be halved. It is unsafe to split some prescription medications. Pill splitters A pill-splitter is a simple and inexpensive device to split medicinal pills or tablets, comprising some means of holding the tablet in place, a blade, and usually a compartment in which to store the unused part. The tablet is positioned, and the blade pressed down to split it. With care it is often possible to cut a tablet into quarters. Also available as consumer items are ''multiple pill splitters'', which cut numerous round or oblong pills in one operation. Pill scoring A drug manufacturer may score pills with a groove to both indicate that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patient Lift
A patient lift (patient hoist, jack hoist, hydraulic lift) may be either a sling lift or a sit-to-stand lift. This is an assistive device that allows patients in hospitals and nursing homes and people receiving home health care to be transferred between a bed and a chair or other similar resting places, by the use of electrical or hydraulic power. Sling lifts are used for patients whose mobility is limited. Sling lifts are mobile (or floor) lifts or overhead lifts (ceiling- or wall-mounted, or using overhead tracks). The sling lift has several advantages. It allows heavy patients to be transferred while decreasing stress on caregivers, while also reducing the number of nursing staff required to move patients. It also reduces the chance of orthopedic injury from lifting patients. Another kind of sling lift, which is called a ceiling lift, can be permanently installed on the ceiling of a room in order to save space. Mistakes using patient lifts may result in serious injury, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gas Cylinder
A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. High-pressure gas cylinders are also called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor over liquid, supercritical fluid, or dissolved in a substrate material, depending on the physical characteristics of the contents. A typical gas cylinder design is elongated, standing upright on a flattened bottom end, with the valve and fitting at the top for connecting to the receiving apparatus. The term ''cylinder'' in this context is not to be confused with ''tank'', the latter being an open-top or vented container that stores liquids under gravity, though the term scuba tank is commonly used to refer to a cylinder used for breathing gas supply to an underwater breathing apparatus. Nomenclature In the United States, "bottled gas" typically refers to liquefied petroleum gas. "Bottled gas" is sometimes used in medical supply, espe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxygen Concentrator
An oxygen concentrator is a device that concentrates the oxygen from a gas supply (typically ambient air) by selectively removing nitrogen to supply an oxygen-enriched product gas stream. They are used industrially and as medical devices for oxygen therapy. Two methods in common use are pressure swing adsorption and membrane gas separation. Pressure swing adsorption ( PSA) concentrators utilize multiple molecular sieves consisting of zeolite minerals that adsorbs pressurized nitrogen in fast cycles. History Home medical oxygen concentrators were invented in the early 1970s, with the manufacturing output of these devices increasing in the late 1970s. Union Carbide Corporation and Bendix Corporation were both early manufacturers. Before that era, home medical oxygen therapy required the use of heavy high-pressure oxygen cylinders or small cryogenic liquid oxygen systems. Both of these delivery systems required frequent home visits by suppliers to replenish oxygen supplies. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nebulizer
In medicine, a nebulizer (American English) or nebuliser (British English) is a drug delivery device used to administer medication in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs. Nebulizers are commonly used for the treatment of asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD and other respiratory diseases or disorders. They use oxygen, compressed air or ultrasonic power to break up solutions and suspensions into small aerosol droplets that are inhaled from the mouthpiece of the device. An aerosol is a mixture of gas and solid or liquid particles. Medical uses Guidelines Various asthma guidelines, such as the Global Initiative for Asthma Guidelines INA the British Guidelines on the management of Asthma, The Canadian Pediatric Asthma Consensus Guidelines, and United States Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Asthma each recommend metered dose inhalers in place of nebulizer-delivered therapies. The European Respiratory Society acknowledge that although nebulizers are used in hospitals and at ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasal Cannula
The nasal cannula (NC) is a device used to deliver supplemental oxygen or increased airflow to a patient or person in need of respiratory help. This device consists of a lightweight tube which on one end splits into two prongs which are placed in the nostrils and from which a mixture of air and oxygen flows. The other end of the tube is connected to an oxygen supply such as a portable oxygen generator, or a wall connection in a hospital via a flowmeter. The cannula is generally attached to the patient by way of the tube hooking around the patient's ears or by an elastic headband. The earliest, and most widely used form of adult nasal cannula carries 1–3 litres of oxygen per minute. Cannulae with smaller prongs intended for infant or neonatal use can carry less than one litre per minute. Flow rates of up to 60 litres of air/oxygen per minute can be delivered through wider bore humidified nasal cannula. The nasal cannula was invented by Wilfred Jones and patented in 1949 by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lift Chair
Lift chairs, or riser armchairs, are chairs that feature a powered lifting mechanism that pushes the entire chair up from its base and so assists the user to a standing position. In the United States, lift chairs qualify as Durable Medical Equipment under Medicare Part B. In a February 1989 report released by the Inspector General of the US Department of Health and Human Services, it was found that: lift chairs might not possibly meet Medicare's requirements for Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and lift chair claims need to be re-regulated. The report was stimulated by an increase in lift chair claims between 1984 and 1985 from 200,000 to 700,000. A ''New York Times'' article stated that aggressive TV ads were pushing consumers to inquire about lift chairs and, once consumers called in, a form was sent to them for their physicians to sign. Some companies would ship lift chairs before receiving a physician's signature; therefore, forcing the physicians to sign or else their patient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
