It is understandable that medical supplies and equipment all must be rigorously tested to prevent unfortunate medical tragedies. When you want to know if something will pass all of the extensive tests and uses, you ask a medical leak testing company to use their medical leak testing equipment to see if the supply item or piece of equipment will hold up over time. The following items are the most common for this type of testing.
Pressure Decay Tests of Catheters
Catheters help move fluids out of the body into a waiting collection bag. The catheters frequently face fluctuations in pressure and some of the body fluids, such as ammonia from urine, can cause the rubbery catheters to deteriorate unevenly. Hence, catheters are frequently tested for pressure and decay issues that could cause the catheters to split and/or leak.
IV Cassette Pumps
These are unique pumps for the delivery of fluids and medications. The fluids or medications are loaded into a "cassette", which is then loaded into an IV pump station. The "cassette" plays and delivers the fluids and medicines to the patient via an IV tube. The medication is finished when the "cassette" has finished "playing." Because of the nature of the cassettes, there are often leaks that can occur, but these leaks can be avoided when every cassette is filled with saline and tested prior to being filled with medications of all sorts. The tests ensure that every cassette will not leak when it is filled with medicine.
Catheter Bags
The very last thing you want a catheter bag to do is to leak. It makes it very difficult to tell how much output of urine a patient has produced, which affects the amounts of medication and input fluids the patient receives next. Most catheter bags are quite thick and durable, but a special leak test makes sure. The catheter bags are filled either with an excess of fluid or inflated with a lot of pressurized air to see if they will split or burst. If the catheters survive the tests, they are made sterile and packaged for hospital use.
IV Sets
Hoses and bags of IV sets are tested for pressure decay and occlusion. Pneumatic devices are used to test for possible and potential blockages when the IV sets are in use. Then the rest is tested for pressure decay to make sure that the fluids sent through the IV set will not weaken the components of the sets.
Share
