Today, we can find over 29,151 medical laboratories in the United States. Medical labs play a crucial role in diagnosis, discovery, and the advancement of medicine. You might even find medical students or residents interning there, too.
Overall, medical labs contribute a great deal to society, so we want to keep them in optimal conditions. They receive funding and grants from various institutions and/or government agencies. We typically use this money for common lab equipment since it allows scientists to perform their work in the first place.
But how does one go about this?
Learn what you should buy and what you should consider for medical labs below!
What Equipment Can You Find in Medical Labs?
The physician office lab (POL) remains a very common medical lab. This lab quickly diagnoses those pesky strep tests, typical blood tests for physicals, and more.
Thus, your lab equipment list should reflect this. Some common ones include:
- Microscopes
- Autoclaves
- Hotplates
- Hematology analyzers
- DNA analyzers
- Incubators
- Immunoassays
Labs may have more or less equipment depending on several factors like funding and size. Chromatography also plays a key role in medical labs due to its extensive applications. As a result, you may want to put autosampler vials on your list.
Of course, quality matters just as much as lab equipment, especially lab safety equipment, itself. Check out these important factors to help you decide on the best possible lab equipment.
Do Brands Matter?
Brand loyalty might seem silly for everyday items like brooms or towels, but they hold more weight with lab equipment procurement. Reputable brands in this industry signify reliability. They’ve withstood the test of time and continue to improve.
Brands can give your lab a foundation to fall back on so you can test out new, emergent brands. You may still salvage your work if something smaller goes wrong with newer brands.
How Should You Invest?
Lab equipment costs a pretty penny regardless of brand. As such, you should think long-term when purchasing items. Think about what your lab specifically uses its tools for, how often it uses such tools, and how often certain brands upgrade their products.
Essentially, identify your lab’s most significant needs, then invest based on those. You want things to last as long as feasibly possible with maximum efficiency and durability.
What Features Should You Look For?
Different brands and technology come with various features that all differ slightly even if they can perform similar functions. Choose intuitive, user-friendly products for anything under high-frequency use in the lab. This better streamlines your workflow.
You should also consider lab users. Does anyone have disabilities or limitations? Pick equipment that everyone can work with.
You might also want to think about warranties.
How Does Medical Lab Equipment Affect You?
All in all, medical labs only prove as functional as the equipment they come with. Of course, this varies per lab. Users, brands, features, and more all come into play.
Thus, lab equipment becomes a collective decision purchase. Make the best choice for everyone involved so you can perform better, faster, and easier work.
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