Digital Otoscope Enhances Decision-Making and Improves Outcomes

Procedural equipment will help you make accurate diagnoses and formulate treatment plans. You want the equipment to work, be readily accessible, and be easy to clean and store. It's also nice when it fits in your pocket.You also want to be sure your staff is trained to use it. Not everyone in your department may want to break out the nasal endoscope for a quick ENT exam, as we discussed last month. (See post below.) But specialized ENT equipment may make your life a bit easier and improve patient outcomes. Using a digital otoscope to view the tympanic membrane is fast, easy, and safe. This particular model costs $24. Photos by M. Roberts.The traditional bedside otoscope provides a basic but limited view and magnification of the tympanic membrane. The bulbs on these lights are usually dim and a poor choice for accurately visualizing smaller areas, such as nasal or oral lesions, active bleeding, small foreign bodies (such as fish bones), or even tiny tympanic membrane perforations.Most otoscopes consist of a handle, a head with a light source, and a low-powered magnifying lens, typically capable of only 6-8 diopters. More complex otoscopes offer heads with fiberoptic enhancement and magnification (up to about 30-40% more magnification and twice the field of view), and can be used on most standard otoscope handles interchangeably. Replaceable heads can cost anywhere from $500-$2500, and many brands and choices are available. The parts of a handheld digital otoscope. Ph...
Source: The Procedural Pause - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs