Human incubator
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Three-sided access from drop-down walls in the radiant warmer mode facilitates procedures such as diaper and bedding changes, blood sampling, starting intravenous lines, performing tracheal intubation, administering medications, creating radiographs, and conducting ultrasound examinations without interrupting warming. The same platform tilts up to 12 degrees in Trendelenburg or reverse Trendelenburg positions. Babies are warmed uniformly, regardless of their position on the bed platform surface, which can be rotated 360 degrees, accommodating intravenous and ventilator tubing and attached wire leads. Stephen Baumgart, Sudhish Chandra, in Avery's Diseases of the Newborn (Ninth Edition), 2012 Giraffe OmnibedĪs a radiant warmer, the Giraffe OmniBed (General Electric, Ohmeda Division, Laurel, Maryland) evenly heats the infant’s mattress with a curved reflector surface designed to distribute heat to the baby and its bed surface without overwarming bedside caregivers. It was not uncommon to observe a pool of mercury from broken thermometers and mercury switches on the floor of the heating compartment directly beneath the infant mattress. Older incubators used mercury-based temperature sensors, which often broke, thus exposing the infant to hazardous mercury vapors ( Dyro, 1981). Defective door latches can enable an infant to crawl out of an incubator and fall to the floor ( Dyro, 1977). Lack of maintenance results in the use of incubators with high ambient-noise levels originating from defective or misaligned air-circulating fans, which can cause hearing loss. For example, on some older models, a missing heat shield can permit an infant to crawl over a hot air vent and thus suffer severe burns. These semiretired incubators might lack necessary safety features and manufacturer-recommended upgrades or modifications and can pose serious risks to neonates. Old incubators that have been relegated to storage can be placed back into service during a high census period ( Figure 93-4). In the past, mechanical stress has damaged temperature control mechanisms, which, in turn, have overheated infants, causing brain damage or death.
![human incubator human incubator](https://mulberrytrees.co.uk/propagation/graphics/four_seedlings.jpg)
Incubators are used for many years, during which time they are subjected to appreciable shock and vibration because most are mounted on casters and are moved about for cleaning and storage. Inadequate maintenance can result in incubators that are hazardous to the infant.