Aug
Health Benefits
7 Benefits of Portable Ultrasound Machines
A majority of us have at some point, experienced the benefit of ultrasound diagnoses, either first or second-hand, be it at a clinic or large medical facility. While ultrasound is commonly perceived as the tool to monitor fetuses, it has many other applications too. It helps detect minor and major ailments and even monitor and treat serious medical conditions like heart disease and cancer. Given its multitude of applications, there is perhaps no healthcare discipline that has been left untouched by ultrasound equipment today.
While ultrasound as a diagnostic tool has been in use since the middle of the 20th Century, the technology itself has undergone major advancements that have in turn led to portable and increasingly miniaturized ultrasound machines. Being readily accessible and more affordable compared to standard ultrasounds, portable medical equipment has carried ultrasound imaging to wherever the patient is located, helping doctors diagnose and treat patients promptly, with enhanced ease and convenience. Portability has also extended the reach of medical care to the remotest parts of the world and even in the most physically constrained spaces that cannot house full-size equipment.
Portable ultrasound equipment provides numerous advantages that have benefited patients and doctors alike. If you’re unsure of whether to purchase a portable ultrasound for your clinic or facility, read further to understand how it can impact your practice.
Advantages of Portable Medical Equipment
1. Accurate and Instant Diagnoses
Portable ultrasounds help provide accurate and speedy diagnoses wherever the patient is located. Often times in the absence of the proper imaging tool, medical practitioners are forced to provide consultations without using an ultrasound. This can lead to incorrect diagnoses, which is risky for the patient and also impacts the clinic’s reputation.
Unlike full-size ultrasound machines, portable ultrasounds can be moved from room to room, which allows doctors to examine patients at depth, leading to a proper and timely diagnosis. In addition, portable ultrasounds have undergone technological advancements, enabling them to provide high-quality imaging that is at par with bulkier devices. Moreover, the ready accessibility of portable medical equipment facilitates not only speedy diagnoses but also prompt treatment decisions and administration, thereby improving patient recovery and satisfaction.
2. Improved Patient Throughput
Sometimes even if the facility is equipped with a full-sized ultrasound machine, practitioners are compelled to redirect patients to the room that houses the sole equipment, leading to endless wait times for patients. This can lead to overcrowding of the facility, causing anxiety to both patients and doctors.
However, the high cost of bulky ultrasounds prevents medical professionals from equipping their practice with more than one ultrasound machine. In such cases, portable medical equipment comes to the rescue as it takes up less space and can, in fact, be moved from room to room instead of having to relocate the patient.
Additionally, given their low cost and compactness, medical practitioners can purchase more than one portable machine, further easing the burden on their practice. By equipping more rooms with additional equipment, practitioners can speedily attend to a greater number of patients without impacting quality.
3. Affordable Care
Standard ultrasound equipment is not only bulkier but also much more expensive than portable medical equipment. Standard machine prices can range from 20,000 to 200,000 USD or even higher.
The affordability of portable ultrasound machines makes it feasible for physicians, general practitioners, and specialists to purchase separate equipment for each clinic or practice, eliminating the need to move it from one facility to another. Similarly, large medical facilities can also afford to purchase an ultrasound scanner for each department or even floor, making it easier for doctors to provide consultation and speedy recovery to patients.
Without portable ultrasounds, medical facilities would be unable to fulfill the increasing demand for ultrasound diagnoses. The unfulfilled high demand would, in turn, lead to rising costs of ultrasound imaging. The ready availability of affordable ultrasound imaging through portable medical equipment prevents overcrowding in clinics and institutes and helps keep ultrasound costs at a minimum. As a result, ultrasound is an indispensable tool for providing affordable healthcare to all.
4. A Boon in Emergency Settings
Critical care patients being extremely sensitive to any movements, cannot be transported from facility to facility or even room to room for imaging purposes. Portable ultrasounds completely eliminate the challenge of transporting vulnerable patients by transporting imaging capabilities to the patient’s location, be it an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or emergency room. Additionally, even in the operating room, portable ultrasounds serve a critical purpose of guiding anesthetic or other injections and interventional procedures.
Moreover, given their safety, non-invasiveness, and radiation-free imaging, portable ultrasound machines are a boon in emergency settings as patients who are critical cannot be subjected to harmful radiation or invasive procedures. All in all, portable medical equipment provides timely and accurate diagnoses, which are crucial in saving lives.
5. Increased Patient Engagement
Portable ultrasounds make it possible for doctors to examine patients in the ease of their clinics or even patients’ homes. In such comfortable and relaxed settings that are devoid of overcrowding, doctors can provide quality consultations to patients.
Furthermore, with the help of real-time ultrasound imaging, doctors can help patients view the insides of their bodies, helping them better understand their ailments. This fosters greater communication and also ensures complete patient cooperation and participation in treatment. Patients are more likely to follow doctors’ recommendations if they are more in tune with their diagnoses and medical conditions.
Full patient engagement and participation in the treatment improves recovery, leading to improved patient outcomes and satisfaction.
6. Improved Ease of Operation and Convenience
The availability of portable medical equipment eliminates the need for doctors to redirect patients elsewhere (another department or external imaging facility) for ultrasound imaging. By providing ultrasound imaging at their own clinics, doctors can provide focused attention and accurate diagnoses to their patients.
Furthermore, by preventing the need for patients to visit an ultrasound imaging facility that may be distantly located, doctors save them both time and money. Therefore, patients can receive uninterrupted end-to-end healthcare at a single point location, with enhanced ease and comfort.
In addition, since doctors are not required to wait for reports, it leads to faster diagnoses and treatment. The ease of examination at the desired location, be it a clinic or patient’s home, provides convenience to both medical professionals and patients, which is a blessing in the fast-paced world.
7. Availability of Many Features and Options
Advances in ultrasound technology have led to advancements in portable ultrasound equipment. Consequently, portable ultrasounds provide high-quality imaging that was once limited to bulkier devices. Furthermore, ultrasound machines are becoming increasingly smaller, ranging from laptop-based ultrasound machines to a variety of hand-held scanners.
Portable ultrasounds can be used for 2D, 3D, or 4D imaging and are powered with advanced imaging capabilities for high-contrast resolution and image optimization. Additionally, they provide a full range of functionality and features that offer a streamlined and optimized workflow, enhancing ease of operations and speed. They also feature a color display and come with power batteries for prolonged and uninterrupted use. What’s more these machines are extremely easy to navigate and also enable the transfer of images from one device to another. These usually come with a set of transducers and measurement and reporting packages.
Thus, portable medical equipment is as high powered as its bulkier counterparts and be an extremely useful investment for your practice. If you want to equip your clinic with a portable ultrasound or want to replace your existing one, browse through National Ultrasound’s extensive range of portable ultrasound machines, including Mindray’s M8 Elite and GE’s Logiq V2. We carry a full-line of trolley-based and portable ultrasounds from all major manufacturers.
If you need help in choosing the right ultrasound machine for your practice, contact National Ultrasound to speak to one of our representatives, who are experts in evaluating your requirements and fitting you with the perfect ultrasound equipment for your practice!