What emergency equipment do you need in a Medical Practice?

What emergency equipment do you need in a Medical Practice?

‘What emergency equipment do you need in a Medical Practice?’ This is a question that often comes up when I’m delivering training.  It’s important to have the appropriate emergency equipment so that we can offer our patients the best care whilst waiting for emergency care to arrive.

Hopefully your trainer is like me and when they visit they’re happy to check your kit for you and advise what to take out and what to add.

I find the CQC’s mythbuster list the easiest to understand and navigate, they also have a list of emergency medicines that should be stocked.  They will work from the Resuscitation Council’s Quality Standards. The mythbuster list explains what the CQC will inspect and what equipment they expect you to have.

Using oxygen in the medical practice

Sometimes when I visit my medical practices I find that the admin team rely completely on their clinical colleagues.  I understand this and of course it is appropriate.  However, in the interests of teamwork I do encourage everyone to learn how to turn on and attach the oxygen if asked.  It is a task that may fall to a member of the admin team if there are low staff numbers on the day.  Therefore, I would encourage anyone working within a medical practice to ask one of their colleagues to show them how it works.  Then periodically to go and remind themselves.

Anaphylaxis treatment

It’s also important that you have the appropriate needles and syringes for drawing up and administering adrenaline for the treatment of anaphylaxis.  I recommend 1ml syringes and blue 23g needles.  You need 1ml syringes to be able to measure the appropriate dose.  Blue needles are appropriate for drawing up from glass in an emergency and suitable for administration.  The most common items I remove from emergency kit are inappropriate needles and syringes.  I have found that Medtree will supply 1ml syringes and 23g gauge needles in any quantity required.  For your peace of mind I can confirm that I have no affiliation to this company and there are probably other companies that will also supply individual items.

Checking of equipment

Once you have your equipment in place it is important that it is checked regularly.  I recommend that everyone clinical takes a turn at checking the equipment as we check for familiarity too and this is the easiest way to become familiar.  It’s also important that all admin staff are familiar with where the equipment is kept and how to use the AED and perform CPR.

If you have any questions you are very welcome to get in touch.