Background and Identification
GE Healthcare is an American conglomerate that manufactures and distributes diagnostic imaging agents and radiopharmaceuticals for imaging modalities that are used in medical imaging procedures. GE Healthcare also produces medical diagnostic equipment including CT image machines, fluoroscopy machines, and respirators.
In 2003, GE Healthcare acquired Instrumentarium’s Datex-Ohmeda division. The division produces anesthesia, respiratory, and monitoring equipment. The Datex Ohmeda brand is still branded on select GE equipment. The Datex Ohmeda brand has been associated with many categories of medical devices and is primarily associated with anesthesia machines.
Anesthesia or anaesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is typically induced for medical purposes. Anesthesia may include analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), amnesia (loss of memory), unconsciousness, and paralysis (muscle relaxation). Anesthesia allows the painless performance of medical procedures that would otherwise cause intolerable pain.
The main instrument in an inhalational anesthetic delivery system is called an anesthetic machine. An anesthetic machine includes vaporizers, ventilators, an anesthetic breathing circuit, pressure gauges, and a waste gas scavenging system. Anesthetic machines are designed to provide anesthetic gas at constant pressure and oxygen for breathing and to remove carbon dioxide or other waste anesthetic gases. Inhalational anesthetics are flammable, so various checklists have been developed to ensure the machine is ready for use, that electrical hazards are removed, and that safety measures are active. Intravenous anesthetics can be delivered either by an infusion pump or by bolus doses. Many other smaller instruments may be used for monitoring the patient. Modern anesthetic machinery is generally designed to be fail-safe to decrease the odds of catastrophic misuse of the machine.
GE Datex-Ohmeda anesthesia monitors can generally be identified by the GE emblem, which includes the letters “GE” in cursive font inside of a circle. They usually include the name Datex-Ohmeda in italicized font next to the GE logo.