August 10, 2007

Defibrillator Cabinet: Protecting Your Equipment

A defibrillator cabinet is personal protective equipment attached to every Automated External Defibrillator. Though expected to be used as a protective shield, the defibrillator cabinet also keeps the body fluids away from electric particles when the shock therapy is administered to the cardiac patients. Made of steel, it also adds to the shape and size of the AED.

Defibrillator cabinet is used as a storage facility for several equipments such as a microshield, trauma scissors, gloves for Personal Protection and a razor. The microshield is basically designed to discourage and deter any attempt to open the AED and safeguard the sophisticated equipments from any distortion. Trauma scissors known as tuff cuts, are used by paramedics and emergency medical staff to cut clothes off people with cardiac arrest to ensure better oxygen flow to the body. These scissors generally consist of a plastic handle suffused with a metal blade. The gloves need to be always worn to safeguard the body from shock radiation.

The defibrillator cabinet is generally fitted with an 85-decibel alarm with a pressure sensitive button. It operates on 9-volt batteries and needs replacement on every six months. Any attempt to open the door led to sounding of alarm to deter any theft. You can also connect the alarm to your internal locking system. The more sophisticated cabinets like basic, surface mounted and semi-recessed ones come with both audible and flashing alight alarms. The last two categories can be inserted in to a wall stencil for less obtrusive look.

Most of the cabinets are made of sturdy heavy-gauge steel. The shape and size depend on the storage facility provided to accommodate supplementary medical supplies. The first aid and protective wear unit inside the defibrillator cabinet includes a entire, solid die cast, chrome-plated handle with adjustable roller catch, AED decals, heavy-duty hinge and a clear acrylic door alarm. A general wall mounted cabinet is made of 20-gauge, cold-rolled steel and normally accepted as durable for its high gloss, white electrostatic powder coat finish.

A defibrillator cabinet needs changing in every six months for safety and health concerns. The growing use of defibrillators and increasing public awareness about the device is leading to the availability of numerous cabinets of high quality in the market. The consumer has now better options to buy catchy and flashy designed cabinets and get better price to their money.

Filed under General by Mark Glazer

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