Hands On November 2012

Product reviews from street crews

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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Just Snip & Rip

Time is critical when attempting to access and treat wound sites in emergency situations, but when you’re trying to cut through multiple layers of clothing, bunker gear, equipment, boots or even body armor, medic shears are often not up to the task. Rip Shears combines a trauma shear with a high-quality Ripper Unit. The Ripper unit features a 440A surgical-grade stainless steel blade tested by U.S. Navy SEALs for use in the harshest environments. The Ripper unit can also be purchased separately and bolted to most 7-1/4 or 7-1/2 trauma shears. To use the Rip Shears, you simply make a pilot cut with the shears, then insert the Ripper unit and pull down rapidly through the material. Using proper technique, anyone can fully expose a patient in less than 30 seconds.

VITALS
Colors: Black, olive drab green, desert tan, glow-in-the-dark, orange and pink.
Price: Starts at $24.95; Ripper only $15.95; replacement blades $5.00
www.ripshears.com

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Hands On November 2012

No More Improvising

Back in EMT school, you probably learned to treat open chest wounds by placing an occlusive dressing over the wound—of course, the occlusive dressing you would use was usually a matter of your instructor’s opinion and might have been a gloved hand, D-Fib pads or packages, plastic bags, you name it. SAM Medical Products SAM Chest Seal takes the improvisation out of treating open chest wounds. The SAM Chest Seal is designed with a hydrogel adhesive that adheres extremely well to the skin despite the presence of blood, sweat, hair and sand, but also has the ability to reseal when there’s a need for venting. A valve version that features a one-way valve for venting when the cap is removed is also available. The vacuum-sealed pouch can be peeled open to provide a sterile field and comes with a 5" x 9" absorbent pad for cleaning the wound area.

VITALS
Size: 9.2" x 7.6"
Price: Non-valve $27.95 (two per pack);
with valve $22.50 (one per pack)
www.sammedical.com
800/818-4726

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Class Registration Software

Enrollware automates all of your American Heart Association training center tasks through an easy-to-use, Web-based application. When students enroll in your class, they’re recorded in your database permanently so you can access all your rosters with the click of a mouse. Enrollware also automates your American Heart Association certification card printing by automatically creating card printing files from your data. Enrollware’s online class registration software eliminates the administrative paperwork and manual tasks typically associated with American Heart Association ECC class registration and enrollment.

VITALS
Price: Starts at $49 per month
www.enrollware.com
561/247-2432

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Now Playing

The King Vision from King Systems is a high-performance portable video laryngoscope that makes performing endotracheal (ET) intubation almost as easy as watching video on your smartphone. The reusable, battery-operated, 2.4” OLED display offers a high-quality view of the epiglottis, vocal cords and other anatomical landmarks. The affordable disposable blades house the lightweight camera and LED light source. The King Vision is easy to handle and allows you to clearly see the ET tube pass through the vocal cords. The distal lens has a factory applied anti-fog coating, which eliminates the need for any warm-up time prior to use. From an infection-control standpoint, the King Vision allows you to perform endotracheal intubation without having to put your face anywhere near the patient’s mouth. It’s an ideal product for both routine and difficult intubations.

VITALS
Screen size: 2.4" diagonal
Video aspect ratio: 4.3
Power: 3 AAA batteries
Price: Reusable screen approx. $1,100; disposable blades $30
www.owntheairway.com
317/776-6823

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Simulation Made Easy

Many instructors find that simulation systems take too long to learn and don’t produce useful scenarios for students. The SimPad System from Laerdal Medical can make simulation-based training a “pick up and play” experience. The SimPad is compatible with Laerdal simulators and manikins, both new and existing, as well as the VitalSim platform. It’s portable and can be used almost anywhere you need to do scenario-based training. The SimPad can be used in the automatic mode with pre-programmed scenarios or in the manual mode where you customize the learning experience. The improved features, large, easy-to-use touch-screen design, expanded ECG library, and new patient parameters combine to give you the ability to take your students on a realistic assessment and treatment path that is both challenging and educational. You can also upload scenarios and themes from a PC via a USB or download scenarios directly from the SimStore.

VITALS
Size: 5.7" color display and touch screen
Power: Li-Ion battery; two AC power supplies
Price: $2,900
www.laerdal.com
845/297-7770

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On-the-Go Reporting

EMS Charts Mobile vs. 3 is the newest field supplement to emsCharts.com. This user-friendly version incorporates many of the features lacking in other EMS electronic field reporting systems. The 360-degree gender and age-dependant body diagrams give you the ability to draw detailed secondary surveys right on the body image. This feature also calculates burn surface area. Using the always-present Vitals/Activity button, you can quickly and easily record vitals, medications, administered treatments and other EMS events with time stamps, regardless of where you are in the patient record. A protocol tab allows the service administrator to configure interactive flow chart protocols. EMS Charts Mobile 3 can also interface with Physio-Control Lifepak 12 and 15, Phillips Heartstart MRx, and ZOLL E, M, X Series and Propaq MD monitors to collect blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, SPO2, EtCO2, CO, methemoglobin, temperature and event comments. There is no per-user, per-seat or per-device licensing. The application is priced based on your annual call volume with unlimited device downloads.

VITALS
Operating systems: Windows XP (SP3),
Windows Vista, Windows 7
Processor: 1 GHz Intel Pentium III Processor (or higher)
Memory (RAM): 2GB
Disk Space: 300MB
Display: 800 x 600 resolution
Call for pricing
www.emscharts.com
866/647-8282

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