Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Yes, I want one!

lifepack15.jpg.jpegWhat is there to say, but Damn...that is one sexy piece of medical machinery! Currently, the LP12 is pretty much the standard or care in ambulances and emergency departments around the country. This bad boy is the brand new LP15! The looks has been somewhat updated, and it looks as though it now comes with a much nicer, multi-color screen. It also has the ability to do a pre-medication 12 lead, and then continually monitor the 12 lead in the background to check for ST segment changes...pretty cool stuff.

The new LP also has some hokey-sounding (to me) new prompts that give you the proper breath to compression ratio for CPR. I've never really understood the point of having an AED on these things though. AEDs are supposed to be simple to use. If you know what you're doing with the LP12, the AED is simple to use. But, if you're not entirely familiar with its operation, and most people aren't, you're going to be completely lost. It's my humble opinion that if you don't know how to manually defibrillate a patient, you have no business anywhere near one of these. Using an AED usually requires one or two buttons, but look at all the buttons on this thing! How in the world are you supposed to know which two to use, and not get lost in the sea of other flashy lights? Maybe people are just less easily distracted than me, but I don't think so.

Judging by the side of this particular one, it's completely tricked out with a bunch of ports that you wouldn't usually see outside of the hospital, such as invasive BP monitoring. But, they're all things I'd throw in there if I had the money and the need. I doubt the fire departments will be seeing this anytime soon, since the beasts can run over $20,000, but maybe I'll get lucky and get to play with one in a hospital.

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