Seizures are a common emergency. First responders frequently encounter febrile seizures in children, epileptic seizures, and seizures due to brain anomalies such as dementia or brain lesions. In most cases, the seizure itself is not dangerous, but the medical condition that caused it may be.

You’ve responded to the same nightclub three times this month. Every call is the same: a young adult found unresponsive, most likely the result of an overdose on heroin. The patient is a male in his mid-twenties, pupils pinpoint, he’s barely breathing and showing the early signs of cyanosis. You load him onto the stretcher, place him in your unit, and race to the nearest hospital.

The call came in as a patient being unresponsive. You arrive on scene to find an elderly woman, hunched in her wheelchair, semiconscious, with labored breathing. She has a history of stroke, and by the drooping appearance of her left side, which her family states is not normal, it appears she has had another.

Emergency medical responders are responsible for saving lives every day. Their knowledge and skills enable them to quickly assess and treat patients who may be unconscious, unable to communicate or located in remote terrain.

Every nurse knows durable medical equipment doesn’t last forever.

When was the last time you kicked a hospital bed in frustration because the motor ground to a halt as you were elevating a patient’s head? Or you discovered an IV pump apparently quit working in the middle of the night, depriving your patient of vital hydration?

When equipment like a portable medical suction machine unexpectedly stops working, it can be more than a nuisance. It can endanger patient safety. If you reach for a suction wand because your patient aspirated, and you discover there’s no suction...there may be a bad outcome in the wings.

Purchasing any type of new medical equipment is a major decision, and portable medical suction is no exception. There are countless products available, all of which come with different sizes, shapes capabilities, and situation-specific features. So, how do you decide which medical suction device to buy?