Medical Supplies

How To Choose the Best Icare Bed for People with Mobility Issues

Icare Bed sample imgToday, health care beds like the Icare bed are widely used in hospitals and in the houses of people who prioritized home healthcare.

Hospitals beds and their modified version may have shared similarities in functions; however, the latter is way better in terms of functionality and aesthetics. 

For people with reduced mobility like the seniors, using a highly functional health care bed can make their sleep more comfortable and get the rest they need.

Choosing the right healthcare bed for your loved ones should depend on their preferences and individual needs. 

And to help you out in this task, here are some of the qualities of Icare beds that you may want to review to make sure that you make the best choice.

Comfortable and Provide Good Support when Sleeping

The quality of our sleep affects our health and energy level. For our elderly loved ones and people with mobility issues getting enough restorative sleep is very important to their overall wellbeing.

When choosing a healthcare bed make sure that it is comfortable and can provide support for the sleeping position that the user likes to sleep in.

People with respiratory conditions, for example, may find it hard to sleep due to impaired breathing or other discomforts by lying flat in the bed. Using a bed with an adjustable backrest can provide comfort to the patient.

In some instances, people with reduced mobility want their restless legs in a comfortable position when sleeping. Choosing an adjustable bed with a knee break to create a supportive hump under the knees provides relief.

Consider the Size and Height When Choosing an Icare Bed

When choosing a health care bed for people with limited mobility and reduced strength, it is vital to choose big-sized and higher beds for safety reasons. Higher beds are easy to make and allow the user to sit down or stand up easily compared to lower beds.

A patient with reduced mobility can have more control when transitioning from sitting to the standing position without the risk of falling. 

When deciding what size of the bed is best, it should depend on the available space you have and the need for the user to move about in bed. Biggers beds have more rooms for the user to move or turn over. 

Choose a Bed with Multi-Functions and Durable

Lastly, when choosing the best home care bed, make sure to pick the model with unmatched functions and durability. 

The latest models of home care beds have functions such as head lift, knee break, height-adjustable, and tilting to ensure the comfort and safety of the user. 

In summary, choosing the best home care bed is very important to the patient’s rehabilitation, safety, and general health. This modified version of hospital beds is designed to improve the sleep and independence of people with mobility issues while taking the hospital look out of the room.

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Where Are You Legally Allowed to Drive Your Mobility Scooter?

The majority of authorized dealers of mobility scooters are unanimous in saying that if there is one hounding question that customers ask of them all the time, it always has something to do with where they can drive their disability equipment. 

Let us try to set the record straight here and straighten things up by addressing these issues about this type of scooter. 

mobility scooter

Can you use your scooter for mobility on pavements? 

Yes, absolutely! You can use it on pavements. The government authorities classified this type of scooter into two groups. Class 2 of scooters for mobility are supposed to be pavements scooters. One cardinal rule that users should bear in mind when using them is they should not exceed more than 4mph. Apart from that, they have all the liberty to use pavements like any other pedestrians.  

Can you use your scooter for mobility on the road? 

Some scooters are okay for use on the road, classified as class 3

legal road scooters. They are allowed to go on an 8mph at top speeds. Any scooter speeding beyond that limit is in active violation of this law. 

Road scooters are also required to have reflectors, lights, indicators, hazard warning lights, a rearview mirror, and a horn. They must see to it also that their braking systems are efficient or in line with the set standard.

If you lack any of those safety accessories, a police officer is authorized to stop you. 

Scooter owners are not at all required to have a driving license, but they need to register their unit and insure them. A manifold of road safety courses is available across the country. The majority of them, though, is being manned by insurance firms and independent groups. 

There are also a handful of police centers that offer training sessions in gratis. The minimum age requirement to ride a scooter on the road is 14 years old.  

Can we use scooters in shops? 

 Yes again. The law itself mandates that public buildings are supposed to have disabled access. And access for mobility scooters is included here also. 

But if you happen to have an all-terrain vehicle that is extra-large, the odds are high that you will have difficulty navigating in and around shops. It is because access there are usually designed for smaller types of scooters. 

Needless to say, when you enter a shop, you will need to maintain your scooter at pedestrian speed, which is no more than 4mph. If you need to shop using a scooter, we recommend considering using a smaller folding type of scooter instead.

Alternatively, you can also look for a compact pavement scooter. They are far easier to ride when you are inside a shopping center. 

Can you ride your scooter on Bus or Cycle Lanes? 

No, you are not allowed to drive a scooter along bus or cycle lanes. You are only permitted to use them on the pavement or the major part of the road.  

Can you ride your scooter on Dual Carriageways?

You can. Both car owners and scooter users are surprised about this. If you have a class 3 type of mobility scooter, you are free to ride and drive it on a dual carriageway.

However, you are required to install an actively flashing amber light. Take caution that you may not go beyond 50 mph when driving a scooter on a dual carriageway.  

 

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Abrasive Waterjet Machine’s Role in Precision Cutting for Medical Equipments

As young technology that it is, the evolution of abrasive waterjet machines reached a point where they can already offer a substantial benefit to manufacturing firms that are catering to the production of in-demand and most sought after surgical instruments and a wide array of other medical applications. 

With their ability to hold positioning accuracy reaching to ±0.001″ and complemented by continuous technological breakthroughs in micronozzle production, a growing number of manufacturing firms in the medical instrument sphere now employ the use of waterjet machines to further strengthen their operations and productivity.

medical equipment 

Contrary to public perception, it is not water that carries out the actual cutting work on industrial waterjet cutters. Rather, water acts as a delivery vehicle for the tiny abrasive particles such as garnet. They are being accelerated to supersonic speeds. This way they can deliver a highly productive cutting work by virtue of erosion, much in the same how a grinding process works.

Beneficial to Medical Manufacturers

Increased level of productivity is among the chief benefits a manufacturing firm is bound to enjoy if they will incorporate the use of abrasive waterjet machines in their operations. This is completely contrasting to other traditional metal-cutting methods we have. Water jet cutting substantially offers us a considerably higher rate of cutting speeds but requiring a lesser amount of time for setting things up. 

The waterjet process is seamless and a straight-forward one. As for the waterjet operator, he may only need to upload a drawing of the part together with all the specifics and required tolerances. The onboard software will then take on the calculation of tool paths. After this, it will carry out the cutting data. The convenience of setup and the rate of cutting speed is giving us good reasons why this qualifies as an excellent alternative method to using for prototyping applications and large component production runs.  

After some time that waterjet technology was first introduced to the world, there is no way that abrasive waterjet machines will be able to deliver tolerances, a requisite of many medical applications. 

This is not true anymore for parts that need tolerances below 0.002”. Even for work that requires a high level of precision, this material cutting method can deliver substantial benefit and does so by cutting finished near-net parts with the use of an ancillary process. This also applies to part geometries that go beyond the flat dimensions produced by abrasive water jet cutting, even though the recent progress of bevel-cutting nozzle accessories broadened the breadth of geometries that this material cutting method can produce outright.  

Compared to many other material cutting practices, an abrasive waterjet is a handful of key advantages. Laser discharge machining and laser technologies tend to produce heat-affected zones in and around the workpiece you are trying to cut. 

HAZ (heat-affected zones) induces surface hardening and in a way alters the  chemical attributes of the material. Abrasive waterjet is a qualified cold cutting process, and being such it offers users immunity from such effects. It is also an environmentally superior alternative as opposed to photo-chemical etching. Normally, this would be leaving behind a trail of hazardous or toxic waste materials.

Last, but not the least, abrasive waterjet machines would only apply a small amount of force on the material or the area you are trying to cut through. This allows for seamless and convenient cutting of delicate features that is otherwise very difficult, costly, or impossible to produce if you will only employ the use of traditional cutting methods.

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The Importance of Lighting During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In the hopes to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic governments all over the world are prioritizing the supply of medical supplies, protective equipment, food essentials, and pharmaceuticals. Next to such are the other important sectors. However, one serious risk is being overlooked and taken for granted- it is the role of light.

lockdown street light

Artificial lights are very important in today’s time of crisis. With lights, we can get doing all the basic things we need to do. Most of all, functional lights play an important role in keeping test facilities, hospitals, highways, supermarkets, and distribution centers running both day and night.

The Role of Lighting in Today’s Crisis

Front Line

It is not only the visual property of lights that is making a huge difference today. Although not everyone realizes it, bit UV radiation plays a key role in disinfecting hospitals. Also, it utilized disinfecting police stations, factories, schools, offices, and post offices. For example, a UV-C radiation that comes with a wavelength of 254nm can break down the DNA of mold, bacteria, and viruses. It can even purify water and air.

Here are more ways on how lighting improves the quality of life, while adding essential value during this difficult time in our lives today.

Health at Home

With an overwhelming number of individuals who are now staying in their homes, the importance of light for their well-being and that of their family should never be underestimated. In fact, even before this crisis came to exist, almost 90% of our time was being spent inside with not enough daylight. Indeed, light is very essential to everyone’s health and well-being as it helps regulate our sleep-wake cycle.

In addition, it could help with people’s daily routine. A bright and functional light can keep us energized and enhance our concentration levels. On the other hand, warm light can help create a cozy atmosphere that helps unwind at night. Simply put, having the right type of light would make us feel, see, and function much better.

Food Security

There is one more unsung application of light and it is in food production. With artificial lights, it is possible to grow crops in many countries, thus reducing the distance and lessening the dependence on imports that could be carbon-hungry. Such is changing the way people farm. In today’s time, when the supply chains are tested, food security is most important.

Keeping the Streets Safe and Secure

The majority of pedestrians and drivers recognize the requirement for a well-lighted street. A good quality lighting for the streets can help reduce accidents and injuries by up to 30%. In addition, a well-lit street is also safer. Police officers can tell that proper lights can help prevent crime.

Light has so many benefits, although we do not realize all of them. But one thing is for sure, our lives have become so much better because of light. And during this trying time, we can just all be thankful that lights are available to help us in many ways.

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What Important Role Does Water Jet Cutting Processes in Surgical Procedures?

surgical procedure

Several sectors in our modern society have been enjoying the benefits of the waterjet cutting process for quite some time now. The vast majority of organizations that are involved in the manufacturing and fabricating space have seen the potential of waterjet cutting and have taken advantage of it for their various industrial cutting, cleaning and drilling requirements.

But today,  things are changing, taking a 360 degree turn for waterjet machines because the medical field has now found a place to make good use of it.  Waterjet technology applications can now be seen in medical rooms particularly in wound cleaning, dentistry, and many other surgical operations. Waterjet techniques, over the years, have evolved and developed to become what we now consider as a groundbreaking cutting tool. There are now many different types of application for this technology in medical surgery.

The water jet machine is going to be moved in a line to allow for the application of the pressure and the cut. If there is something about waterjet incision that can be considered as its key benefit, it would have to be its level of precision. Waterjet cutting precision is  high enough to the point that makes it comparable to the quality of cut that only laser cutter machines are capable of delivering. But the good thing about it is that waterjet incisions are not likely to bring about any kind of thermal damage to the tissues that are being separated and this is attributed to its coolant ability.  Add to this, waterjet machines can also clean and wash away blood. This takes away the need for an additional extra tool to help get the job done.

A great performing waterjet machining process will be highly dependent on the  water pressure coming out of the jet together with the skin’s elastic properties. The highest impact would be the initial impact itself and this can be achieved the moment that the waterjet hits the skin tissue. After which, the water can be expected to flow radially, which will inevitably reduce the impact of the jet.

Waterjet in surgical wound debridement

Amongst the most practical applications of waterjet technology in the medical world is its important role in surgical wound debridement. It also served as a good alternative for surgical excisional techniques applied primarily for burn wounds.  A study has shown that relevant waterjet technology can efficiently debride wounds from superficial partial thickness down to mid-dermal partial thickness wounds to help prepare the affected area for the subsequent Biobrane placement.

In 2007, a study about a particular brand of waterjet surgical tool was made and it made an in-depth review of how versatile the said equipment was when it comes to the treatment of deep and indeterminate neck and face burns. The very same study also made an important affirmation. The highly predictable depth of debridement is attainable by making some needed tweaks on the apparatus settings.

surgery instruments

Waterjet Incision and Other Procedures

The integration of waterjet technology to a number of surgical procedures was first carried out in 1982 for resectioning procedure for liver. In the years that followed, it came to a point that it became fully recognized in various areas of surgical procedure.

Clinically speaking, this technology is utilized primarily for cutting soft tissues which would include liver tissues. It is also taken advantage of in experimental procedures involving spleen dissection, brain tissue, and kidney tissue. These tissues are cut at low water pressures, whereas bone and bone cement are cut at a much stronger, higher water pressures.

Conclusion

With a given surgical operation characteristics, a relevant mathematical  model can help an awful lot in calculating optimal operating conditions for debridement, surgical cutting or drilling.

Surgeons will be able to choose the right size of nozzle to use together with the right parameters for the waterjet instrument, from velocity, power, and finally pressure. The next step after this is the evaluation on the results of the study. This measure will help in creating a broad simulation model  for the surgical procedure to be done, like for instance Caesarian section procedure. 

When it comes to the water jet cutting machine process, there seems to be a lot to be hopeful about it. Not just in the medical world, but as of this writing further progress has been made about its use and application in many different areas of interest such as  aeronautics, manufacturing, and architecture. It is clear to see that this technology is ushering these sectors to further development and growth.

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