Medical Laboratory Equipment And Their Uses
Understanding medical laboratory equipment and their uses is essential as these reduce the change of human error and provide results accurately. In addition, if you need to handle that medical lab equipment, this information is crucial for both your and the lab’s safety.
Here in this post, we’ll discuss some most common equipment that is integral for medical labs for your convenience.
Medical Laboratory Equipment
Below are some most common yet vital equipment found in the medical laboratory:
Microscope
Microscopes are used to expand objects and their key purpose is to view cells and tissues with a larger look. Therefore doctors can detect the presence of a virus, bacteria, and other possible infections in the blood sample.
The microscope is also used to research the sediments of urine to identify kidney problems. It is also used to view various types of blood cells and help to count and categorize for abnormalities.
The microscope is helpful medical lab equipment that allows to detection of various types of microorganisms like parasites and bacteria that are very small for the naked eye to see. Many doctors also use a microscope to check the presence of white blood cells in urine that indicate a bladder infection.
Hematology Analyzer
This medical lab equipment is used to conduct blood tests, and coagulation tests and help in blood count. It’s a highly automated computerized and specialized device that ensures a higher level of accuracy during counting cells by various techniques.
Some common techniques are the Use of fluorescent dyes, Light scatter method, Flow cytometry, Radiofrequency, and Electrical impedance method.
Some common uses of hematology analyzers are Reticulocyte analysis, Complete blood count, Coagulation tests, and White blood cell count.
This analyzer is also used to monitor various diseases like lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and various bleeding disorders like blood clotting. Measuring blood cells also helps diagnose these disorders perfectly as these diseases affect lots of properties of blood.
Blood Gas Analyzer
The blood gas analyzer is used to determine the partial pressure of gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. It also helps find out the concentrations of ions like potassium, sodium, or chloride. This medical laboratory equipment can also detect abnormal acid-base balance.
Urinalysis Analyzer
The main purpose of a urinalysis analyzer is to track illnesses that may be caused due to infection in the urinary tract.
Immunoassay Analyzer
It’s mainly used to diagnose various infectious diseases. Some common tests performed using this device are cardiac analysis and cancer markers.
Medical Autoclave
Sterilizing surgical and pharmaceutical items is a common application of medical autoclave devices. It uses temperature, pressure, and steam for sterilization. This electrical device is also used to disinfect or sterilize materials through physical means.
The working principle of this medical laboratory equipment is the downward displacement of air using gravity. This versatile medical lab equipment is used to sterilize and disinfect lots of laboratory equipment including tips, pipettes, glassware, plastic tubes, and surgical instruments.
This device usually uses moist heat to damage microorganisms through denaturation and irreparable coagulation of enzymes and structural proteins.
Cell Counter
Cell counters are versatile equipment and are often found in medical and research labs. It is used to count cells in urine or blood samples to find out the types and number of cells present. The cell counter is also used to check the cultured cell line’s viability for various research purposes.
It also helps perform medical diagnosis, cell therapy, and microorganism research. Doctors also use cell counters to determine the cell concentration and count cell small organisms and particles.
It’s vital equipment in the clinical lab and for cell therapies, as helps doctors and physicians to determine whether blood cells are alive or dead. This device is made of microchannels that divide two chambers where particle or cells with fluid is drawn through the microchannel.
The microchannel is made of an electrolyte solution where every particle causes a little change in the liquid’s electrical resistance. The counter is used to detect electrical resistance.
Clinical Laboratory Incubator
The main purpose of using an incubator is to perform various microbiological tests. It consists of an environmentally-controlled chamber that controls humidity, temperature, and carbon dioxide levels in a closed area. The incubator’s environment improves the growth of various tissue and cell cultures.
The most common use of microbiological incubators is to help the growth and storage of cell culture or bacterial culture. It also helps maintain the organism’s culture for later use. The microbiological incubator enhances the growth rate of organisms to maintain the condition.
Another common application is the determination of BOD and the Reproduction of microbial colonies. It also helps store the samples in the lab before processing them.
Sahli Haemoglobinometer
This medical equipment is used to estimate hemoglobin in a blood sample. It operates through hemoglobin concentration spectrophotometric measurement. The haemoglobinometer is portable and fairly easy to use, making it ideal for a lab with minimal space.
The device has a pipette, stirrer, comparator, hemoglobin tube, and hydrochloric acid. During the process, the blood sample turns brown after adding the acid and the solution’s color matches the comparator’s color after adding distilled water. its final level of the solution provides the quantity of hemoglobin. The result is mentioned as the grams of hemoglobin per 100 ml of blood.
Clinical Centrifuge
The centrifuge is vital medical and laboratory equipment that is used to separate a mixture of insoluble particles, sediment-suspended solids, relative densities, blood, and immiscible liquids.
This versatile equipment is used in both clinical and research laboratories and includes a rapidly rotating container that works on the centrifugal pressure performed on the contents.
In the medical lab, the centrifuge is used to separate blood components to perform tests and treatments on individual components. Different types of centrifuges are used in laboratories and the most common types are Clinical Benchtop Centrifuges, Refrigerated Benchtop Centrifuges, Microcentrifuges Vacuum Centrifuges, and Benchtop Centrifuges.
Cryostat
This medical device is used to maintain low temperatures around -50°C. the cryostat is used to store devices, samples, and slides to keep them workable for a longer time. it uses liquid cryogens such as helium and nitrogen to maintain the workability of the materials. This lab equipment is also used to cut tissues to prepare the sample for research.
Once the sample is prepared, the doctor observes them under a microscope. The cryostat is also handy in a lab as it offers a quick diagnosis of the tissue’s condition. another vital application is to study the margins of cancer for enzyme histochemical analysis. The cryostat is also used to diagnose and treat neuromuscular and autoimmune diseases.
The Applications of Medical and Laboratory Equipment
The primary application of any medical laboratory equipment is providing life support. Common medical laboratory equipment includes anesthetic machines, dialysis machines, medical ventilators, heart-lung machines, and ECMO.
Diagnostics are an important application of medical lab equipment and it includes CT and PET scans, x-ray machines, ultrasound, MRI, and other machines. Checking through medical laboratory equipment offers visual data essential for diagnosing, measuring processes, and proposing treatment.
Medical and laboratory equipment also assists in various types of therapy. Some of the therapeutic equipment are medical lasers, LASIK surgical machines, and infusion pumps.
This lab equipment helps complete, assist, or automate the analysis of certain biological substances. Blood, urine, and even genes are some of those substances.
Medical staff also measure and monitor the medical states of patients using medical laboratory equipment. The other applications are checking and displaying vital signs like ECG, dissolved gases in the blood, EEG, and blood pressure in great detail.
Benefits of Medical Laboratory Equipment
The design of medical laboratories involves Rigorous standards for safety. A wide number of devices interfere with patients’ healthcare to improve their health condition. in addition, technology plays a vital role in saving lives by diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease.
Medical laboratory equipment is handy for both treatment and long-term care. Thanks to the achievement of modern hardware and software that help extend life. Using medical and laboratory equipment also impacts positively the quality of life of patients.
Final words
Hope you understand some of the most common yet handy medical laboratory equipment and its uses. These pieces of help should aid you in collecting the right equipment to diagnose, treat, prevent, or rehabilitate various diseases and give better support and quality of life to the patient.
