Medical Device Names?

[BigJon@Work]

Is anyone here up on their surgical tool names? I need to find out the proper name of a certain tool.

[Haggis@wk]

Describe it and I'll see if the MRHYN knows what it is.

[BigJon@Work]

It's a tool to debride dead skin, layer by layer. They use it in burn wards. My understanding is it works something like a wood shaver/shaper

but I've never seen one in person.

[Haggis@wk]

We looked at it, read the description, both shivered in unison (a new Olympic sport?) and have no idea what it's called.

Quite frankly I'm not sure I want to know its name, that almost seems to indicate that I might need to know it name sometime in the future.


I guess I need to post that down in the superstition thread.

[Trumpetmaster]

Is this what you mean???

Exfoliator disc
Document Type and Number:United States Patent 4438767 Link to this page:http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4438767.html

Abstract:A flat circular blade is provided including opposite side finger tip engageable grip portions generally centered relative to the blade with the peripheral edge of the blade being laterally deflected to define a scraping edge for scraping dead skin tissue from various areas of the body.

[jamiebk]

OMG that looks awful. Are you sure it is a "medical tool"? It is identical to a classic "Spoke Shave"...a type of a wood plane that is used for rounding spoke or barrel staves etc.

[BigJon@Work]

TM, I don't think so. That sounds like a cosmetic tool. This is considered a surgical tool.

JBK, yep, that picture is a spokeshave, but many medical tools are just stainless steel versions of other common tools.

Does the MRHYN have any surgeon or burn ward buddies? The first place I heard of this tool was a very dark story (true),

Caruso took his place at the end of the table, ready to begin on the top of Jason's head. Foster and Smith lined up alongside the face. Using handheld knife blades akin to cheese graters, the doctors went to work, peeling back layer upon layer of scorched skin.

I want to use it in a very dark story, (Fiction) but I want to use the proper name of the tool.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Cripes! The things we get into on this board.
I don't know what the name of the thing is, but I think I'd start looking by googling for major hospitals with large burn treatment centers and then talk to the clerk who orders the instruments and supplies. Second route might be with manufacturers and suppliers of medical equipment, subsort for burn treatment equipment.

Hey, Haggis! Does the MRHYN know the names of eminent burn-treatment centers? Thankfully, I (shudder) don't.

If you actually find a source, you should plan on sending a basket of cookies or carved fruit-on-a-stick or somesuch to the helpful department. Or individual. It's (a) the right thing to do, (b) gets you well spoken of, and (c) cultivates a future source for possible future use.

[piqaboo]

TM's description sounds like its used to remove dead skin, which is what they do to burns. Yuck. yikes. Ouch. I'm guessing its a debrider.

[BigJon@Work]

When I search on debrider, I only get devices to work on bones. <shudder, shudder, shudder>

Did the MRHYN get to talk to any surgeons yet?

[jamiebk]

BJ...I really don't think that device shown is for soft tissue. This sounds terrible, but it would clog and jam etc. I really think it is for shaving bones as has been suggested here. The removal of skin would be accomplished with abrasive devices...not a "plane" of sorts.

[Haggis@wk]

When I search on debrider, I only get devices to work on bones. <shudder, shudder, shudder>

Did the MRHYN get to talk to any surgeons yet?

No, she's been out of the practise so long that she doesn't know anyone. Didn't we have a intern who posts here. MonkeyMD or something like that?

[BigJon@Work]

Thanks for the reminder, I've PMed MonkeyMD2Be.

JBK, if you read the story, it was used to remove charred flesh. <shudder>

[monkeymd2b]

Sorry, I've never seen that thing before...but then again I've never worked in a burn unit if that's what it's for...Looks painful. Maybe it's just called a planer...I'm sure some surgeon has his name on it. All the debridements I've been involved with used scalpels, electrocautery, or chemical debridement. I can ask the wound care clinic nurse if she knows but I won't be seeing her until I get back from vacation

How did you get that picture anyway? are you planning to debride burn victims any time soon?

[BigJon@Work]

The picture is actually of a woodworking tool. Base on the description in the article linked above and elsewhere, it is what I imagined the surgical tool to look like. I dunno what the actual tool used looks like or is called. Did you read the article on Jason Schechterle and how the tool was used on him?

[piqaboo]

Oh for crying out loud, BigJon! Give me a break.
If you are going to make up the tool, make up the name and save us all some time and effort. Save the wild goose chases for April 1.

Debriding is removing the dead tissue from the wound.
Google the medical process you want, then google the names of the tools.

[BigJon@Work]

What am I making up? There was a tool indicated in the article that was used for a specific medical purpose, described as a kind of cheese grater that shaved off layers of burned flesh. I found another article that described a burn debridement tool that shaved off strips of dead skin, the description sounded similar to a spokeshave, (two handed, adjustable blade) but did not name the tool. When I Google debriding tools, I get bone shaving tools, normally electrically powered. When I Google exfoliate, I get cosmetic tools. My quest is somewhere in between, I think, that is why I asked.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I think we've now established that nobody here knows the name of your debriding tool. You might as well stop asking us.

Did you contact a medical equipment supplier? Or a burn treatment center? They'd be likelier to know. If they article that started this whole goosechase mentioned a specific medical facility, you might start there.

[BigJon@Work]

It's for a Stephen King-ish fictional story. You know, fun, horrible and detailed. I don't feel right wasting the time of a place like that, thus my request here . . . in the fun forum. You know, for fun.

[Shapley]

I used to have a surgical equipment catalogue. It may still be at my mothers' house, I'll ask the next time I'm down there. In the meantime, you could give it a fictional name, and use the 'find and replace' function to fill in the correct name when you know it.

Since it resembles a spokeshave but is used for burned skin, I nominate Smokeshave as a suitable moniker...

V/R
Shapley