Another Kind of Circulatory System

In the depths of the hospital, through doors that often go unnoticed by most employees, is a transportation system that plays a huge role in modern health care. The passengers are not people, although some are samples of people – blood samples, that is, secured in a “carrier” and on their way to the hospital lab. The carriers – cylindrical cartridges with a secure latch on each end — race all over the hospital through pneumatic tubes hidden deep behind the walls. Unit nurses can send samples to the lab for testing, or receive blood products and medications to administer to their patients. Pneumatic tube systems have been used in communications, banking, health care and industry since the mid-1800s to move small things from one place to another much faster than a human could travel — even faster than a car. Digital communication has taken over the conveyance of messages, but when it comes to transporting an actual object across a hospital campus, the pneumatic tube still reigns supreme. The pneumatic tube system at University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is one of the most complex in existence, according to Pevco, the company that designed and installed it some 20 years ago at UMMC’s University Campus, and has updated and expanded it through the years  The last big upgrade was 2011, when UMMC added two additional miles of pipe, interchange rooms, 25 new pieces of equipment and 10 additional zones. Before this system was installed, the hospital staff...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Miscellaneous Technology health care medical center pneumatics tube system UMMC University of Maryland Source Type: blogs