An infant incubator is a fully enclosed clear plastic dome which provides a stable environment for an infant. The cabinet has portholes that allow easy access for the nurse or physician, without opening the cabinet. The incubator controls the temperature, humidity, oxygen and protects the infant against infections, diseases and noise. Other capabilities may include jaundice treatment via a special blue spectrum lamp or even a built-in scale to measure the infant’s weight. An infant incubator can maintain a user-set temperature within the cabinet (manual mode) or can auto-adjustment the cabinet temperature, based on the user-set baby skin temperature (skin mode). Portable infant incubators usually include a battery allowing a few hours of operation when not plugged-in.

                A routine PM (Preventative Maintenance) ensure the nurse can treat the infant’s condition successfully and ensures the infant safety by checking the over-temperature safety circuits and ensuring electrical safety. Common issues the biomed will experience with the incubator include poor air circulation or heater element failures. Specific to the infant incubator, the biomed tests the cabinet temperature and humidity accuracy and stability. They also verify the over-temperature alarm operation, measure the phototherapy intensity, change air filters and change batteries as per the manufacturer’s guidelines.

During a PM (Preventative Maintenance) or after repair, the biomed:

·       Perform a visual inspection looking for obvious issues such as cabinet cracks, port sleeves tears and ensures the temperature probe(s) are in good condition.

·       Ensures all user controls are operational by verifying functionality and will repair issues prior to placing the infant incubator back into service.

·       Checks the warm-up time to ensure it is within manufacturer’s specifications typically about 20 minutes.

·       Verifies manual mode temperature accuracy by use of an independent calibrated temperature meter compared at a few temperature levels. Some testing guidelines recommend verifying temperature accuracy at more than one location within the cabinet (up to 5).

·       Verifies temperature stability by ensuring the incubator maintains an accurate and stable temperature (STC), typically about 1°C over a 1-hour period.

·       Verifies skin mode temperature accuracy by using a patient simulator at a few different temperature values.

·       Verifies the skin probe monitor will alert the user if the probe is disconnected or if the sensed temperature is outside a specific range. It will alert the user by a visual and/or audible alert.

·       Verifies humidity accuracy by using an independent calibrated hygrometer to verify the accuracy at a few different levels.

·       Verifies oxygen flow/accuracy by simply varying the flow control and ensure oxygen flow can be controlled from no flow up to 100% flow. They also check the oxygen monitor accuracy by using a calibrated oxygen monitor and look for oxygen leaks by pressurizing the oxygen system.

·       Verifies the over-temp alarm by raising the cabinet temperature to the over temperature value to ensure functionality. The heater should turn off and an audible and/or visual alarm should sound.

·       Tests the phototherapy lamps intensity by use of a special light meter that will measure a wavelength between 425nm and 475nm measured approximately at the level of the baby’s skin for a minimum level of about 4μW/(cm2×nm). This ensures jaundice treatment will be effective!

·       Performs a noise level check to measure the noise levels within the cabinet under specific conditions, as part of the PM program using a sound level meter.

·       Performs air filter maintenance which may include changing and/or cleaning filters.

·       Measures the bed scale accuracy by using accurate weights to verify accuracy of the bed scale.

·       Ensures portable battery operation by to ensure the unit runs for a specific period on battery operation and will replace the battery after a specific period for time.

·       Verifies the incubator is electrically safe by measuring the ground resistance, chassis leakage and applied part leakage.

Always refer/follow the manufacturer’s recommended test procedures.

Users of an Infant Incubator do not have to worry about the operation of an Infant Incubator to improve the condition of their patient (infant) because their Biomed performs the standard PM checks above, and more!

This 3-minute read on Infant Incubators is a summary of 22 pages (479 to 500) contained within The Biomeds Handbook (V2)