Senior Science- Medical Techniques and Life Support Systems

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Part 1 Life support systems- explain the role of life support systems in maintaining life. (a) Identify three devices that constitute life support systems in any major hospitals. A life support system is a piece of medical equipment that is used to keep a person alive who has one or more failing organs or organ systems. The organ systems that most often fail are the lungs and respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, the renal system, the gastrointestinal system and the central nervous system. (1)Three common devices used to support these systems are: 1) Ventilators 2) Dialysis machines 3) Artificial pacemaker (2) (b) Choose two devices from above to outline what the devices do to maintain the life of the patient and when they might be used Ventilator: a ventilator is a device that mechanically moves breathable air in and out of a person’s lungs. Ventilators are most commonly attached via a breathing tube placed in a person’s trachea, either fed down though their mouth or nose, or in some rare cases surgically inserted through the front of the neck. Ventilators push air that is oxygenated, humidified and warmed into the lungs while also monitoring a range of things such as the amount of air being absorbed into the lungs and the resistance of the lungs, this allows the ventilator to regulate the amount of oxygen and pressure needed to keep the patient alive.(3) Ventilators are used in the case of severe illness or injury; when a patient is unable to breathe or they are not breathing sufficiently. Some of the situations when a mechanical ventilator is necessary are: * Acute lung injury * Respiratory arrest from apnea or intoxication * Neurological diseases such as muscular dystrophy(4) Hemodialysis machine: A dialysis machine is used to mimic the function of a person’s kidneys by removing urea and excess minerals from
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