Preparation Room Rules and Equipment for Embalming

1. CHAPTER 4 TECHNICAL ORIENTATION OF EMBALMING

2. General Rules of the Prep Room • The prep room is a confidential and private room. Only the embalmers and those allowed by the state should be allowed in. • When not being used the prep room should still have limited entry. • The prep room should have signage that shows it is a private area and should have all OSHA warnings.

3. General Rules of the Prep Room • The prep room should have a lock on the door or some type of security plan so that unauthorized people don’t wander in. • The dignity of the remains must be maintained at all times. • All people in the prep room should maintain the highest moral standards at all times.

4. General Rules of the Prep Room • A clean and healthy environment should be maintained. • The proper supply of chemicals and items necessary for the embalming should always be available. • The proper number of tables should be present to minimize moving the remains. • An embalming report should be used.

5. The Preparation Room • The book goes into great detail about the location, size, physical design, flooring, windows, doors & ceilings, walls, plumbing, an ventilation. • The reality is that although this information is worthwhile if you’re going to build your own funeral, most of you are not. Most of you are going to work for a funeral home, or will purchase

6. The Preparation Room • A funeral home where the preparation room is already in existence. Answer questions 2 and 3 at the back of the chapter but don’t study this information for quiz and testing purposes. • There is too much other valuable material that you need to spend your time learning and need to be tested on.

7. The Preparation Room • I am most concerned in this chapter that you learn the preparation room equipment and instrumentation.

8. Preparation Room Equipment • Tables- embalming tables are available with: • stainless-steel or porcelain tops • cast iron, steel, or aluminum bases • Historical Injection Apparatus included: • gravity method (still used in cavity embalming) • bulb syringe

9. Preparation Room Equipment • Combination of gravity and bulb syringe • Hand pumps • Air Pressure machines • The present day apparatus is a motorized Centrifugal Pump. Terms associated with the pump are: • pressure- the force required to distribute the embalming solution throughout the body.

10. Preparation Room Equipment • Rate of flow- the amount of embalming solution that enters the body in a given period and is measured in ounces per minute. • Potential pressure- the pressure reading on the gauge indicating the pressure in the delivery line of the machine with the rate-of flow valve closed or the arterial tubing clamped shut. • Differential pressure- the difference between the potential pressure reading and the actual pressure reading.

11. Preparation Room Equipment • Actual pressure- the reading on the pressure gauge when the rate-of-flow valve is open and the arterial solution is entering the body.

12. General Instruments • Aneurysm Needle- used for tissue dissection for the location and elevation of arteries and veins. • Bistoury Knife- a curved cutting instrument that cuts from the inside outward. • Hemostat (locking Forceps)- can be used to clam leaking vessels. Dressing forceps are very long hemostats.

13. General Instruments • Scapel- a sharp cutting instrument used for making incisions. • Scissors- used for cutting and to open arteries and veins. • Separator- used to keep vessels elevated above the incision.

14. General Instruments • Suture Needles include: • half-curved • doubled-curved • circle • loopuypt • Suture thread is made of: • nylon • cotton • linen

15. General Instruments • Spring Forceps- used for grasping and holding tissue and used as a drainage instrument. • Arterial Tube- come in many sizes. They are threaded to a stopcock. They are inserted into the artery for injection. • Stopcock-used to attach the delivery hose from the embalming machine to the arterial tube.

16. General Instruments • Y Tube- used for injecting both legs and arms, or both sides of the head at the same time on an autopsied remains. • Drain Tube- metal cylinder to be inserted into a vein. • Iliac Drain Tube- a drain tube inserted into the iliac toward the right atrium of the heart. • Grooved Director- used to expand a vein to help guide a drainage device.

17. Aspirating Instruments • Autopsy Aspirator- used to aspirate blood and arterial fluid from the cavities of autopsied remains. • Hydroaspirator- an aspirating device that creates a vacuum when water is run through the mechanism. • Nasal Tube Aspirator-used to aspirate the nose or throat.

18. Aspirating Instruments • Trocar- a long hollow needle used to aspirate and inject body cavities. • Hypovalve Trocar- designed for hypodermic treatment and is used for injection only. • Cavity Fluid Injector- screws onto the cavity fluid bottle and when inverted the fluid flows through the trocar into the cavity

19. Aspirating Instruments • Trocar Button- a threaded plastic screw used for closing trocar punctures or other small punctures. • Trocar Button Applicator- used to insert the trocar button.

20. Feature Setting Devices • Eyecaps- plastic disks inserted under the eyelids. • Mouth Formers- plastic or metal devices used to replace the teeth when the natural teeth or dentures are absent. • Needle Injector- used to insert a “barb” into the mandible and maxilla to hold the lower jaw in a closed position.

21. Positioning Devices • Head Rests • Arm and Hand Rests • Sometimes these are also referred to as “armatures.”

22. Plastic Undergarments • Plastic garments help control leakage from the autopsied body or the condition of edema. They include: • Plastic stockings which cover from the feet to the upper thigh. • Plastic pants which cover the waist to the upper thigh. • Plastic unionall which cover the entire body except the hands and face.

23. Plastic Undergarments • Plastic Coveralls which cover from the upper thigh to the armpit.