Purchasing laryngoscope blades

[Skylark32205]

Hello! I'm about to start as a first year resident and am trying to purchase my first laryngoscope. I've already bought a kawe short handle, but I'm having a bit of a problem with buying blades. Can I just buy any brand of fiberoptic blade that's green standard and it'll be compatible with my handle? Are brands important when buying blades? Has anyone had experience with Cynamed or Rusch blades? Also, should what blades do you recommend other than a mac 3 and a mac 4? Thank you!

Edit: Unfortunately, purchasing one's own laryngoscope is standard where I reside in

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[bigdan]

What the fu@k?

Don’t buy your own blades. Or laryngoscopes.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Why are you buying your own laryngoscope, out of curiosity?

 

[Skylark32205]

Why are you buying your own laryngoscope, out of curiosity?

That's generally the situation in the country I reside.

Just wondering, how is it in the US? Is the use of a laryngoscope provided by the institution?

 

[Psai]

I use a disposable laryngoscope and blade. Costs about 50 dollars from what I see.

 

[nimbus]

Heine’s are the best I’ve used. Sadly we now use disposables.

HEINE Laryngoscope 5 Blade Mac / Miller Set W HEINE LED Handle 8721 Tested | eBay

 

[nimbus]

That's generally the situation in the country I reside.

Just wondering, how is it in the US? Is the use of a laryngoscope provided by the institution?

Yes.

But into the 1990’s in some places in the western USA, anesthesiologists used to carry around tackle boxes with their own gear. Sometimes they even purchased their own anesthesia machines and carts and pushed them from room to room. But I haven’t heard of that recently.

 

[Skylark32205]

Heine’s are the best I’ve used. Sadly we now use disposables.

HEINE Laryngoscope 5 Blade Mac / Miller Set W HEINE LED Handle 8721 Tested | eBay

Yeah, I've been eyeing that one. Looks really affordable. Thanks for the affirmation. A few of my peers are actually purchasing new unbranded sets costing around $190 for the blades.

Care to explain the economics of disposables? I can't fathom how sterilizing is more expensive.

 

[Skylark32205]

Yes.

But into the 1990’s in some places in the western USA, anesthesiologists used to carry around tackle boxes with their own gear. Sometimes they even purchased their own anesthesia machines and carts and pushed them from room to room. But I haven’t heard of that recently.

We.... don't cart our machines around haha, but we actually bring tackle boxes with gear and drugs to our rooms. I'm a little astonished regarding the difference.

 

[nimbus]

Yeah, I've been eyeing that one. Looks really affordable. Thanks for the affirmation. A few of my peers are actually purchasing new unbranded sets costing around $190 for the blades.

Care to explain the economics of disposables? I can't fathom how sterilizing is more expensive.

It was not an economic decision but a decree by clipboard police. They said since we weren’t sterilizing the handles between each use, we must switch to a completely disposable system instead.

 

[jwk]

Yeah, I've been eyeing that one. Looks really affordable. Thanks for the affirmation. A few of my peers are actually purchasing new unbranded sets costing around $190 for the blades.

Care to explain the economics of disposables? I can't fathom how sterilizing is more expensive.

The cost of sterilizing includes the cost of labor to do it. Do you scrub, dry, package and sterilize your own blades?

Curious if you're in the US - because if you are, disposables are about the only reasonable way to go - and the quality is quite good compared to the early plastic devices.

 

[Psai]

I've never understood why we can't reuse the handles. It's not like it goes into anything but your hands and wiping it down is fairly easy.

We used to use reusable lmas for gods sake

 

[nimbus]

I've never understood why we can't reuse the handles. It's not like it goes into anything but your hands and wiping it down is fairly easy.

We used to use reusable lmas for gods sake

It was okay for 100 years, then it wasn’t. But we can still use rolls of tape with hair stuck on them for 100 consecutive patients.

 

[psychbender]

We still wipe down handles, and have our blades processed. The movement toward disposable, single use everything, is ridiculous, wasteful, and not data-driven

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[Psai]

We still wipe down handles, and have our blades processed. The movement toward disposable, single use everything, is ridiculous, wasteful, and not data-driven

Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile

I've been trying to be more conscious in my own personal use of disposables and trying to recycle things but it seems so futile when I think about how much we use for each operation. Dead people going for futile operations with all the drapes, instruments, medications to be thrown out. I never understood why people gown and glove with sterile drapes for contaminated or even dirty cases. Using a whole vial of 1000 u of insulin to give one patient 5 units is ridiculous. Having to take out each medication for individual patients and the games you have to play with returning is also absurd. Returning and recording medications is such a hassle that people would rather just throw out perfectly good medications and take out new ones for each case.

The amount of stupid rules made by stupid people increases exponentially every year. They can't pay for enough staff to turn over the ORs efficiently or keep things stocked properly and yet they are able to pay clipboard warriors to check your cart to see if you have premade syringes and prestyleted ET tubes ready to go for your next emergent case. It just boggles the mind.

 

[deleted875186]

We also wipe down our handles and process the blades. Works well, and I like the Heine blades much better than any of the disposables.

So wiping down the handles is not sanitary, but doing a half ass wipe down of the anesthesia machine, monitor cables, cart, etc is ok? Let’s be honest, the laryngoscopes is going in one of the most dirty parts of the body.

 

[dhb]

The amount of stupid rules made by stupid people increases exponentially every year.

The death of civilisations...