Medical: Patient Care and Surgical Devices
Patient care equipment represents types of medical equipment that are directly involved in the care of a patient. For example, blood and IV warmers may be used for a combination of patient comfort, faster recovery and to accelerate the rate of a transfusion. Medical devices used for any invasive or non-invasive surgical procedure are classified as surgical instruments. Patient care equipment may be found in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and home care environments. Control of the thermal and other processes may be critical to the wellbeing and safety of the patients. Keeping the body close to 37°C (98.6°F) is a requirement for many applications.
Watlow thermal component solutions include flexible, cartridge or other heaters that can be designed and manufactured to the equipment's mechanical and electrical isolation characteristic. Watlow's ULTRAMIC® 600 heater specifically fits the medical device market because of its low leakage current. Since patient safety is paramount, Watlow safety limit controllers are commonly used in this equipment.
Common types of equipment that use Watlow thermal solutions include:
- Anesthesia delivery systems
- Blood warmers, transfusion equipment and contrast media heating
- Bloodless surgical procedures
- Hemodialysis machines (renal or kidney dialysis)
- Infant warmers and incubators
- Insufflators
- Lithotripters
- Respiratory therapy devices
- Thermal-ablation instruments
- Warming blankets
- Wound therapy systems