Medical Device Names?

[BigJon@Work]

Now that I like. I guess I will just have to describe a spokeshave for now, oop Smokeshave.

You're evil. I like that!

[Shapley]

If you like it, use it. You could work it into the story.

Dr. Jones retrieved a menacing-looking tool from the locked cabinet. He handed it to me, instructing me to begin the debridement. I looked at the instrument, which looked as if it would be better suited for a woodworker than a surgeon.

"What is this thing?" I asked Dr. Jones.

"A smokeshave." He replied, with that look that made it seem as though I had overlooked the obvious.

"A what?" I asked.

"A smokeshave. He repeated, somewhat exasperatedly. You use it like a spokeshave. It's used to remove charred skin, so I call it a smokeshave." There was no humour in his voice which would have indicated that this was some kind of joke. "Get to scraping, please. We have much work to do."

Something like that. I don't pretend to be a writer.

[piqaboo]

What am I making up? There was a tool indicated in the article that was used for a specific medical purpose,

and then you posted a picture of something else entirely, as if it were a picture of the thing you were looking for.

[Shapley]

I understood from the post with the picture that he was posting a picture of a woodworker's spokeshave. Perhaps it's because I recognized the instrument. I can now see how someone could make the incorrect connection between the photo and the instrument in question.

I remember looking at the Medical Equipment Catalogue and seeing items that resembled tools from non-medical specialties, so it did not surprise me that something akin to spokeshave would be used. I would expect it to be smaller, since I cannot fathom an instance in which skin would need to be removed in such quantities and with such reckless imprecision as a spokeshave would produce, but then again, I'm no surgeon.

There were some pretty gruesome tools in the catalogue. I kept it, however, because of the pretty artwork. It was a large, hardcover book with page after page of excellent drawings of medical instruments.

V/R
Shapley

[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 (pictured) but I've never seen one in person.

[BigJon@Work]

I'd love to see that catalogue.

I went to a live presentation on Civil War surgeon tools and procedures. All I can say is

[Shapley]

If you're ever in Chicago, visit the International College of Surgeons Museum. I stumbled upon it one day while walking in the area north of the loop. It was quite amazing.

[BigJon@Work]

Ever visited The Mutter? Creepy.

[Shapley]

No. I've never been to Philadelphia, but it sounds similar to the International College Of Surgeons Museum in Chicago.

[monkeymd2b]

You know, when I did a google search for burn debridement, I saw pictures with a cheese grater looking thing being used on a leg but no name was given to the tool on any of the pictures...at any rate, it also disturbed me much like the grand rounds video I had to watch on oral lesions...I was eating my breakfast and wanted to throw up many many times. I hate skin problems - they're always so gross.
I practice the 1st 2 rules of derm at all times:
If you know what it is, you don't need to touch it
If you don't know what it is, then for god's sake DON'T TOUCH IT!

[barfle]

What's so scary about all this is that medical instrumentation has advanced so much in the last 100 years.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhh

[BigJon@Work]

I practice the 1st 2 rules of derm at all times:
If you know what it is, you don't need to touch it
If you don't know what it is, then for god's sake DON'T TOUCH IT!

Thanks anyway Monkeymd2b. My quest continues . . .

[treebeau]

Dermatome.

See: http://www.umdnj.edu/hsweb/Glossary/d.html

Regards,
Tim B.

[Shapley]

This from Wikipedia

Thanks, Treebeau.

[haggis]

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

V/R
Shapley

Okay Shapley, you have officially pushed my "vivid imagination Ewwwwww, Gross" button down and in the locked position.

Now all we need is a discussion on "bone marrow extraction tools" to send me gibber for the scotch

(Ed. "Right, as if you EVER needed an excuse for scotch!"

Me. Well, in this case it would qualify as a medicinal necessity and as such would be appropriate before 17:00)

[BigJon@Work]

It looks like -tome is key the suffix, seeing how many items to remove flesh end in that syllable.

[BigJon@Work]

By the way, thanks, Tim, for coming up with that name. What kind of surgeon did you say you are? Trees? Hmmmm, how can I work that into my story . . .

[treebeau]

Hmmm, maybe I have a dendrotome tool somewhere (aka "debarker").
(heh heh)

Nah, just some lucky Googling came up with it.

Regards,
Tim B.

P.S. I'll beat y'all to the obvious punchline. Computer programmer by day, part time tree feller, though not a pro at it. My "bark" is, therefore, worse than my "byte."

[piqaboo]

Oh Tim!


Haggis, its called a marrow fork. It goes on the table, to the left of the dinner fork.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Now all we need is a discussion on "bone marrow extraction tools" to send me gibber for the scotch...[/i]

My mother once explained to me the various steps of a bone marrow transplant - extraction, filtration, infusion. This was back when the whole procedure was new, and she was all excited about it (also teaching it as part of her Infusion Therapies course out at the community college). I had to lay down. Talk about Ewww-Gross; nasty doesn't begin to cover it.

If any medical professional ever looks perky about any necessary procedure they're planning to do on you I recommend that you demand drugs and don't look!