Durable medical equipment refers to any medical home which can be used at home to give a patient a better quality of living without having to visit the hospital time and again. It is most often, a service incorporated in most Med claim policies. It would include health-care technology like iron lungs, catheters, wheelchairs, oxygen tents and hospital beds. However, the efficacy of the term ‘wheelchair’ depends on issues like the physical and mental health of the patient and may also depend on the whether it is designed according to safety strictures. Such devices may be bought or their services hired for use by the patient. It includes blood testing strips as well as glucose monitors to diagnose whether the patient has Type1 or Type 2 diabetes or even regarding the person’s use of insulin.

Durable medical equipment, also known as home medical equipment acquires paramount importance when it is not possible to attend to the patient’s treatment at a hospital or private clinic due to financial reasons or even the inability of the patient to travel to a clinic on a regular basis. It may also serve the purpose of supplementary treatment in continuance with the main treatment, for instance that which is of an operative nature administered in a clinic.

The equipment is referred to as durable as it is designed to withstand regular and repeated use in the hands of the patient or a family member often without the observation of a qualified medical professional. Such devices can only be acquired n the basis of prior permission authorized by the doctor as indicated in the doctor’s prescription. Purchase should ideally be ideally made from a pharmacy in close proximity to have ready access to replacements in the event of an emergency or otherwise.

Medical equipment may consist of laboratory instruments and devices to analyze the composition of urine, blood, fasces or semen. Medical monitors may be used to predict a patient’s medical state by the measurement of parameters like blood pressure, ECG, EFG as well as gases dissolved in the blood. Diagnostic equipment comprises of medical imaging machines like which are used to help diagnosis of a condition. Such devices include ultrasound, MRI and x-ray machines, and PET and CT scanners. Therapeutic apparatus consists of infusion pumps, medical lasers and LASIK surgery machines. Life support devices are used to sustain the bodily functions of the afflicted in a period of severe medical crisis. These include will consist of apparatus like the following- ventilators, anesthetic machines, heart-lung machines, ECMO, and dialysis machines.

The field of medical equipment is a rapidly advancing one and the frontiers of medical research are steadily expanding to incorporate more and more sophisticated technology. It shows tremendous scope of developing better and improved machines to bolster healthcare and medicine as a science. The X-ray, electrocardiograph, endoscope, ultrasound scan, CT scan and the artificial heart are inventions which have revolutionized medicine quite phenomenally. Knowledge of these is absolutely essential in today’s day and age.