Best unit for monitoring and telemetry

[roovy]

Hi. I am looking to stock all my ambulances with a unit that does it all -- Shock using paddles and pads, pacing, 3 and 12 lead Ecg, Telemetry of the ECG, Sats, NIBP, Resp rate, capnography and possible 1 channed invasive monitoring. All have to work well in a moving vehicle, and not give me hassles with the telemetry working intermittently.

3 units have come up on my radar, and I would like some advice as to which I should get. The 3 units are ...

Phillips MRX
Zoll E-Series
Lifepack 15

Please let me have your opinions.

 

[abckidsmom]

This could go either way. It comes down to personal preference, compatibility with units in your area, and ease of stocking supplies.

I loathe and despise the Phillips monitors, never have liked a zoll much at all, and love Lifepaks.

Ask 10 medics from 10 different systems and you'll get wildly varying answers.

In our county, some units have Phillips, and some Lifepak 12s, and that has proved problematic when medics end up on units with the other kind of monitor than what they're used to, or if one monitor fails and the backup monitor's pads don't match with the first one (unlikely scenario, but one I think about anyway because of my intense distaste for the Phillips machines).

 

[TransportJockey]

Yea this is a pretty broad topic. I too hate the Phillips monitors. I seriously dislike LPs and love Zolls (using LPs now, used Zolls in the past)

 

[NomadicMedic]

I work at two services. One is all LP12, the other is all Phillips. Each do all that you require and both have plusses and minuses. If it came down to MY choice, I'd take the LP12 over the Phillips, simply because of the amount of artifact that the Phillips displays. It's annoying to the point of my wanting to chuck it out of a moving rig. (And yeah, we have paddles on our LP12s.)

 

[exodus]

I work at two services. One is all LP12, the other is all Phillips. Each do all that you require and both have plusses and minuses. If it came down to MY choice, I'd take the LP12 over the Phillips, simply because of the amount of artifact that the Phillips displays. It's annoying to the point of my wanting to chuck it out of a moving rig. (And yeah, we have paddles on our LP12s.)

Love the zoll, almost 0 artifact while driving down the road. We use the M-CCT

 

[citizensoldierny]

We use the phillips at my service and I like it, super easy to use, which is good feature when one is under stress. And it does all that is required of it. Not sure if it's important to you but Phillips was considerably cheaper than both Zoll and Lifepak.

 

[NomadicMedic]

We use the phillips at my service and I like it, super easy to use, which is good feature when one is under stress. And it does all that is required of it. Not sure if it's important to you but Phillips was considerably cheaper than both Zoll and Lifepak.

Which is why we use them.

 

[medicRob]

I'm gonna say Lifepak. The LP 15 is nice as hell.

 

[thegreypilgrim]

I hate Zoll with the fire of a thousand suns.

Go with the Lifepak.

 

[Veneficus]

lifepack is my choice.

Phillips not if hell freezes over and they give them to me for free. I can find absolutely nothing good to say about this crap.

 

[abckidsmom]

lifepack is my choice.

Phillips not if hell freezes over and they give them to me for free. I can find absolutely nothing good to say about this crap.

They are really good for stress relief, though. Can you imagine how fun it would be to hit one repeatedly with a sledgehammer? I bet your BP just dropped a little just thinking about it.

 

[Veneficus]

They are really good for stress relief, though. Can you imagine how fun it would be to hit one repeatedly with a sledgehammer? I bet your BP just dropped a little just thinking about it.

I worked at a place that was a phillips testing center for 4 years.

25lb sledge would be great. Thanks for lowering my blood pressure 20 points with the thought.

 

[TransportJockey]

They are really good for stress relief, though. Can you imagine how fun it would be to hit one repeatedly with a sledgehammer? I bet your BP just dropped a little just thinking about it.

Like a slinky, maybe their purpose is to make you smile when you push one down the stairs ?

 

[abckidsmom]

Like a slinky, maybe their purpose is to make you smile when you push one down the stairs ?

I could give one to my kid and let him take it apart and fill the pieces with mud. That's one of his specialties!

 

[Veneficus]

I thought of something good about the Phillips!!!

After using one for 7 days you will definately appreciate the other companies much much more.

 

[HotelCo]

The zoll would be great if it was such a battery hog. Running a code with that thing is spotty, even if you have extra batteries. (we have the CCT version)

Loved the lifepak 12 during my clinicals, but haven't gotten the chance to check out the 15 yet.

 

[Smash]

I too hate the Philips with a passion scarcely human. I would rather be castrated with a hammer than buy a Philips.

The others are fine, but what I would really like is a corpuls3

Yummy!

 

[usalsfyre]

Having used Zoll and Physio products extensively I prefer Physio but either one is adequate.

Whatever you do, stay well away from Masimo Sp stuff. We've had more problems out of the cheap clips they use on the monitor connections than anything.

 

[Aidey]

Our LP15s have Masimo, and I haven't noticed much of a problem. My only gripe is that the "low perfusion" and other errors aren't mutable, which is incredible annoying. However, I think this is a programming thing, because if a lead gets d/c or you d/c all of the leads and unplug the cables you get the same annoying beeping telling you the leads have been d/c.

My only suggestion is that if you get the LP15 skip the combined CO/SpO2 readers, and also don't get the pediatric clip, get the stick on pedi readers. The pedi clip is useless on anyone under 2-3 yo.

 

[roovy]

Thanks for the replies

Hi. I posted the original question, and am really thankful for the great response. Please keep more opinions coming, and using all that info, I will make the choice on purchase of a lot of units for my voluntary service (which is funded on donations only). For these reasons, I really want to make the correct choice.