In the hospital room



Beds
Kinair bed
A bed with many cushions that are filled with air. We can make this bed softer or harder by changing the amount of air in the cushions. This bed helps new skin heal.

Clinitron bed
A bed filled with tiny sand-like pieces that are gently moving all of the time. The patient lies flat on his back most of the time in this bed. This bed helps new skin heal.

Hospital bed
The hospital bed has buttons on it to move the head and foot of the bed up and down.

Cardiac monitor
The cardiac monitor looks like a Television with wavy lines and numbers that appear in different colors. The patient is hooked up to it by special wires or tubes. We can watch heart rates and blood pressures by looking at the cardiac monitor.

Heart rate
Your pulse tells how many times your heart beats in one minute. This is called your heart rate.

To find out what your heart rate is, place the first two fingers of one hand on your wrist just below your thumb. You'll feel a throb just under your skin. (Don't use your thumb to feel because it has its own pulse.) Now count the number of times you feel the pulse in a minute. Blood is delivering food and air to all parts of the body with each heartbeat. The normal heart rate for a child is between 80 and 120 beats per minute.

Stethoscope
The doctors and nurses use this to listen to tiny sounds inside the body. A stethoscope makes the tiny sounds loud and the loud noises even louder!

Your heart
Do you know where your heart is? Most people think it's on the left side of the chest. However, the heart is almost exactly in the middle of the chest. It is tipped a little to the left side, and this is the spot where it is most easily heard.

Blood pressure
Blood pressure is checked with a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff). The cuff is inflated until its air pressure is sufficient to stop blood flowing (temporarily) through the artery in the arm. The person taking the blood pressure listens for bloodflow through the stethoscope. The air pressure pushes liquid mercury on a scale that gives a numerical reading - the blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is 110/65 to 70.

Intravenous (IV)
IVs are fluids that we put into the body. We use a machine called an IV pump to run the fluids into the body. Medicine is often put into the IV, to help fight an infection or help you sleep.

Feeding tube
We all need to eat and drink to grow and be healthy. A burn patient needs to eat more than usual to help his or her skin heal. The patient may not be able to eat at this time, or may not feel like eating very much. A feeding tube is a small tube that is put into the nose that goes down to the stomach. Now we can put liquid food into the stomach and a burn patient doesn't even have to swallow.

Nasogastric tube (NG tube)
When a person gets a burn they might get a stomach ache. The NG tube goes into the nose or mouth and down to the stomach. This tube pulls the juices out of the stomach so the burn patient doesn't get sick and throw up.

Oxygen/Breathing
Air contains the gas called oxygen. Your body needs oxygen just as much as it needs food and water. Oxygen gets into your body when your breathe. Your lungs take the oxygen to all areas of the body.

Breathing in smoke from a fire can cause damage to your lungs. Oxygen is given through masks or the ventilator to help you breathe until your lungs get better.

Here are different types of breathing masks you might see.
Blowby: this mask fits under the chin This might be used if the mask is uncomfortable to wear. It blows the oxygen towards the patients nose and mouth.

Nasal cannula: a small plastic tube that blows small amounts of oxygen directly into the nose.

Mask: the mask fits over the nose and the mouth. We can give them more oxygen using a mask.

Endotracheal tube (ET tube)
A flexible plastic tube put into the nose or mouth that goes into the lungs to help you breathe. The ventilator is connected to this tube.

Ventilator
A machine that helps a person breathe. The ventilator is connected to the ET tube - the tube that goes into the lungs. Just like blowing air into a balloon, the ventilator blows air into the lungs.

Oximeter
The oximeter looks like a band aide that is usually placed on a toe or a finger. You can find it easily because it has a red light that glows. The oximeter sends numbers to the cardiac monitor. The cardiac monitor shows a blue wavy line. These numbers and lines tells us if there is enough oxygen in the body.