Medical Laboratory Equipments

Medical laboratory equipments are the most expensive lab equipments in the market today. Strict laboratory codes, as well as state laws guide the storage, handling, and disposal of medical and biological materials.

Many types of medical equipments, such as scalpels, vials, and other sample taking tools should only be used once, and should be properly disposed of especially since they have already come into contact with blood, other bodily fluids and any other contaminants.

Equipments in a medical laboratory can be divided into main two categories. The first category, mentioned previously, includes the single use items. These single use items are syringes, scalpels, vials, and any other equipment that should not be used for more than one person or sample, and not more than once. This is because they pose great risks of contamination and transferring it to other samples. It could also result to wrong findings, or in the worst scenario, death of the infected person or sample.

The other group of medical laboratory equipments is the one that includes permanent tools that can be used many times over. Some examples are scales, graduated cylinders, beakers, and flasks among others. These equipments can be used more than once as long as they are sterilized and kept clean.

Sterilization kills around 99 percent of microorganisms, thus it is very important in dealing with medical laboratory equipments. However, there is always a slim chance of contamination in a re-used item. The most basic principle is that anything that touches an infected patient should be thrown away.

Another group of medical laboratory equipments are the large machines that do not actually come into contact with any bodily fluids but should be kept clean nonetheless. Some examples are centrifuges, analytical balances, spectrophotometers and other devices used in microbiological analysis. These machines must be regularly cleaned, sterilized and sanitized so that the risk of contaminating other samples is lessened.