Understanding Medical Machines

Here are a few medical machines every caregiver should know about:

Client Monitoring Machines

Vital Sign Monitors—Remember to plug in this machine when you are not using it!

Apnea Monitors—These measure “apnea”—a period of 20 seconds or more when a person stops breathing. 

Bed, Chair and Door Alarms—Respond to every alarm—even if the client involved is not assigned to you. 

Machines for Client Care

Compression Devices—In general, compression boots should not be stopped for more than one hour a day until the client is ambulating consistently.

Oxygen Therapy—Never smoke, or allow any one else to smoke around a client on oxygen therapy.

Lifesaving Medical Machines

Dialysis Machines—Every dialysis machine has an “air detector” that is able to sense if air has gotten into the blood.  If any air is detected, an alarm will sound.  The machine also checks the person’s blood pressure, the flow rate of the blood, the temperature of the cleansing “bath” and to be sure there are no leaks in the system.  Anything abnormal will trigger an alarm (and probably flashing lights).

Ventilators—Also called a respirator or, simply, a “breathing machine,” a ventilator blows oxygen-rich air through a breathing tube into the lungs of a person who is having trouble breathing on his own.