Of Carving knives and scalpels...
Leonard Lee of Almonte, Ont., near Ottawa, produces surgical scalpels worth millions of dollars because their unique blades are retractable.
*********************Interesting story. It quoted a surgeon saying it was the best wood carving knife as well as the best scalpel. Just curious, are scalpel blades made of a different alloy/hardness than ww ones. Looks like a good possible addition to the LV lineup
Several jobs back, the technicians used scalpel handles instead of Exacto knives. Interchangable blades in all the familiar Exacto shapes, plus a few specialized ones availble both for electronics work and surgury.
We'd occasionally get the "normal curved blade" in packages marked "sterile" when it was what the supplier had in stock. I used to keep a few around for when I got splinter.
Disposable, when they're even used anymore around here. With all the dough available in medical care, doesn't make sense to risk a dull blade. Standard is a replaceable blade and built-in-cautery.
Sterilization is another problem. Sent a guy to the hospital with a plastic C-collar yesterday which could have been washed and reused, but rules forbid. Fortunately, we don't have to throw away bloody spine boards, though the real wood (OBWW) ones are being replaced by the expensive plastic ones.
I'm so old, I can remember when we washed out the suction, instead of throwing away a barf-filled container.
Last year we couldn't even scrounge the titanium pins from a friend's leg. I wouldn't mind so much, but the plan was to forge something memorable out of them. The first thing we'd have done would be to heat them to a thousand degrees!
Ahhh...the good old days.
I think I saw something like that with Otis on an old "Andy Griffith".
Lou
Fortunately I was pretty senior, and it was a job for the junior member.
Question on every EMT test.
"How do you position a patient who is projectile vomiting?"
Answer
Facing your partner.
Things do get silly. But who is now saying you can't reuse a c-collar, George? Is this somethig local, or did I miss something? What's next, disposable backboards?
Protocol for us. I don't know whether it's medical control or state that mandates.
State says we can't use wood anymore on backboards - only the plastic. I fear they may come up with something like disposable if given half a chance. I'm waiting for someone to see what's growing on even a bleached KED, then we'll all be using those crappy cardboard jobbies.
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