HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY

Health Technology

Table of Contents

Health Technology0

Task 1(a)3

Equipment Maintenance3

Moving the Equipment4

Glassware5

The Procedures and Practices in a Scientific Laboratory6

Ordering and Store Management6

Materials Transfer7

Waste Disposal8

Clinical Waste9

Pharmaceutical Waste9

Radioactive Waste9

Task 1 (b)9

Task 211

Results Reporting11

Protection and Security12

Scientific Terminology12

Roles and Responsibilities12

Team Organization12

Task 3 (a)13

Furniture14

Workspace and Access15

The Expert Laboratory15

Task 3 (b)16

Task 4(a)16

Task 4 (b)18

Task 5 (a)19

Labelling19

Information Sources19

Act of Health and Safety at Work20

Task 5 (b)21

References22

Health Technology

Task 1(a)

In a science environment like working in Tower Hamlets College Science Laboratories, there are a number of procedures and practices to go through; for instance in the laboratory it is important to have:

•A good familiarity with the equipment

•An aptitude to use the equipment

•An aptitude to keep the equipment in good working order

•An understanding of the laboratory procedures

•And very importantly the communication skills and information on how people work (Hofstein & Lunetta, 2004, p.49).

Equipment Maintenance

It is very essential that the laboratory equipment is kept in safe and good working order as other people using it could be put in hazard and results produced from work using the equipment could be incorrect. For instance, broken or faultily calibrated pH meters can give wrong results, making the results ineffectual. In a research laboratory this could bring about wrong conclusions, wasted resources and wasted times. Damaged or broken wires on equipment can cause electric shock or fire (Blosser 1980, p.91). To make certain that this does not take place, all scientists and technicians look for faults all the time. This could be as easy as cracked or chipped glassware or it could denote looking out for problems with pieces of sophisticated equipment, or being conscious of their maintenance agendas. Few types of equipment will draw the attention of the user to a problem with caution lights however others will need to be carefully watched. Modern equipment, for example high specification spectrophotometers, is so sophisticated that only the manufacturers and their specially trained technicians can perform preservation and servicing on them. Other pieces of equipment can be maintained, serviced and calibrated by trained technical staff in the laboratory. When equipment is being cleaned the power should be switched off to avoid electric shock and the manufacturers' instructions should be followed. Calibration, maintenance and servicing can, in some cases, be performed by the laboratory technical staff and appropriate records should be kept of the work done and dates. If the maintenance, calibration and servicing has to be performed by specialist personnel from the manufacturer, either because the equipment is very technical or the laboratory staff have not been taught to do it, a contract will be set up with the manufacturer. The contract will state how often the maintenance will be carried out and what will be done. This will have a cost implication for the laboratory. This type of maintenance and calibration will be required for the validation of the data produced by the laboratory and, perhaps, for the laboratory to be allowed to do a specific work.

Moving the Equipment

Most often the user will need to move or shift the equipment, either for disposal or for ...