Kelly forceps

I side with the IV bag wranglers. It's all I've ever used the kelly forceps for. When I was employed at a place that afforded me the means to hang my bag on a stretcher IV pole that also held my pump, I stopped carrying them. I really need to dig those suckers out again.
 
While not Kellys specifically, curved hemostats make a darn good blunt disection tool for the crichothyroid membrane. Hopefully these would be sterile of course, not the ones riding around in your pocket for upteen years...
 
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Linuss said:
PS-- By "clamping down ourselves" I mean using our hands/ fingers.



Could have sworn I saw something of it in the Brady Paramedic text SOMEWHERE, but I'm too lazy to go out to my trunk for it.
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It was definitely in the Caroline book, but with the catch all of if allowed by local protocols or some such thing.
 
ive used it to hang iv bags from car liners when we were on a lengthy pin job. Get in the vehicle and start treatment while the Rescue cuts. Hang bags from the ceiling. also, use it to hlod down the sheet thats covering my and the pt's face.

hold sheets over DOAs at MCIs, as a curtain, when its windy, ect. i find a use for them all the time. also, when the nurses cant find theirs, im johnny on the spot with mine, always make a nurse happy. ill pull a set from equipment
 
There was one other thing I mentioned, and I don't think I've seen anyone comment on it yet. And that's that in the Wikipedia article—which again, has no references that I noticed, at least for this part, so I have no idea how accurate this is or not, which is kind of why I'm asking about it—said that the serrated clamping surface is actually counter-intuitively less harmful to tissue than a smooth surface would be. I believe the article said this is because you can use less pressure with the serrated tips. Does anyone know if this is correct, or sounds plausible?

I'm not sure if I really buy that or not. Maybe it's true if I'm manually holding just enough pressure on the forceps to clamp something, but if I lock it, that's another story. If I lock the forceps on an ordinary piece of paper, even on the first lock setting, holes get left in the paper. Now I know an artery is tougher than a piece of paper, but it's also thicker, which seems it would take more force to squeeze the handles together enough to get them to lock, which in turn means more force being exerted on the artery, or whatever is in there.

I just...I just don't see how the serrated surface can not rip up or shred or otherwise damage an artery, vein, or other tissue. But all the Kelly forceps I've ever seen have been serrated, and part of me wants to assume they're like that for a reason.
 
JJR512 said:
There was one other thing I mentioned, and I don't think I've seen anyone comment on it yet. And that's that in the Wikipedia article—which again, has no references that I noticed, at least for this part, so I have no idea how accurate this is or not, which is kind of why I'm asking about it—said that the serrated clamping surface is actually counter-intuitively less harmful to tissue than a smooth surface would be. I believe the article said this is because you can use less pressure with the serrated tips. Does anyone know if this is correct, or sounds plausible?

I'm not sure if I really buy that or not. Maybe it's true if I'm manually holding just enough pressure on the forceps to clamp something, but if I lock it, that's another story. If I lock the forceps on an ordinary piece of paper, even on the first lock setting, holes get left in the paper. Now I know an artery is tougher than a piece of paper, but it's also thicker, which seems it would take more force to squeeze the handles together enough to get them to lock, which in turn means more force being exerted on the artery, or whatever is in there.

I just...I just don't see how the serrated surface can not rip up or shred or otherwise damage an artery, vein, or other tissue. But all the Kelly forceps I've ever seen have been serrated, and part of me wants to assume they're like that for a reason.
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Generally Forceps with serrated inner flanges are really more of a grasping than clamping tool. The principle you mentioned holds true if using the forceps to grasp and manipulate something, not so much if you intend to clamp down for a prolonged time.

This is a book on foot and ankle surgery with a section on various hemostats and forceps. Some information that may interest you begins on page 6.
http://books.google.com/books?id=sG...serrated forceps for clamping vessels&f=false
 
I always found forcepts useful in EMS for getting the damn cotton out of the asa bottle.

Secondarily, they worked well to clamp IV tubing to push a med or to temporarily halt flow for a few seconds.
 
Veneficus said:
I always found forcepts useful in EMS for getting the damn cotton out of the asa bottle.

Secondarily, they worked well to clamp IV tubing to push a med or to temporarily halt flow for a few seconds.
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;)

Nurses don't use metal clamps on IV tubing...just sayin'.

That's what those plastic doodads all over the place are for. Just wait till you rip through the line on a central line, spewing blood all over the place.
 
Veneficus said:
I always found forcepts useful in EMS for getting the damn cotton out of the asa bottle.

Secondarily, they worked well to clamp IV tubing to push a med or to temporarily halt flow for a few seconds.
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I like the aspirin bottle idea. you could even use them to break that seal in a brand new bottle it peeling it off is not working.
 
dixie_flatline said:
Umbilical cord?
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I guess you could...But if you're on duty, there should be an OB kit in your rig...At least, it's required to have them on Maryland ambulances, and it makes sense for them to be on ambulances, so I'm going to assume that pretty much all ambulances have OB kits on board (and yes, I know the dangers of making assumptions)...And presumably, in an L&D situation, someone's gotten that kit out already...And every OB kit I've ever seen, or read a description of, has two umbilical cord clamps in it.

If you're not on duty, then if you have your Kelly forceps with you, you're probably enough of a whacker to have an OB kit in your trunk. :D (If not, you should really get one; they're not that expensive!)
 
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