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O R T H O P E D I C S
Jim McEwen, PhD
Vancouver, Canada
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How to Choose a
Tourniquet
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Select a system that's safe and effective.
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ourniquets have come a long way in the last 30 years. Improved
technology has made it possible to safely and reliably establish
bloodless surgical fields in the thousands of orthopedic and
non-orthopedic surgical procedures that take place every day in the
United States and elsewhere. But as with all medical devices, tourniquet systems vary widely when it comes to cost, capabilities and safety
features. If you're considering purchasing a system, here's what to consider.
The improvements in recent decades include a wide variety of
safety features. For example, modern electronic tourniquet instruments include pressure regulators that maintain cuff pressure at the
level the user sets, an automatic timer that keeps track of tourniquet inflation time, and an alarm that goes off if the inflation time
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2013
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