- Email: [email protected]
The unforgettable finger tourniquet
Injury, Int. J. Care Injured 34 (2003) 556
Letter to the Editor
The unforgettable finger tourniquet
We read with interest the article by Tucker and Harris [1] on a novel strategy to minimise the risk of iatrogenic digit ischaemia through the use of an “unforgettable finger tourniquet”. The authors propose the use of a coloured glove (The Derma PreneTM glove, Ansell Medical), this equipment is however not uniformly available. An alternative is to take the red cord commonly used to bind batches of surgical swabs together. This can be passed below any finger tourniquet, using a curved haemostat, and then clipped to form a loop. The cord can then be used to temporarily lift the tourniquet to facilitate accurate haemostasis at the end of the procedure. If a haemostat is clipped to the cord, it is difficult to forget, and as an extra-precaution, it is included in the surgical assistants’ equipment count.
Reference [1] Tucker S, Harris PC. The unforgettable finger tourniquet. Injury 2002;33(1):76–7.
0020-1383/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0020-1383(02)00348-0
E. Hodgson, I. Grant∗ The Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK ∗ Corresponding author Tel.: +44-1223-245151 fax: +44-1223-257177 E-mail address: [email protected] (I. Grant) Accepted 9 September 2002
Letter to the Editor
The unforgettable finger tourniquet
We read with interest the article by Tucker and Harris [1] on a novel strategy to minimise the risk of iatrogenic digit ischaemia through the use of an “unforgettable finger tourniquet”. The authors propose the use of a coloured glove (The Derma PreneTM glove, Ansell Medical), this equipment is however not uniformly available. An alternative is to take the red cord commonly used to bind batches of surgical swabs together. This can be passed below any finger tourniquet, using a curved haemostat, and then clipped to form a loop. The cord can then be used to temporarily lift the tourniquet to facilitate accurate haemostasis at the end of the procedure. If a haemostat is clipped to the cord, it is difficult to forget, and as an extra-precaution, it is included in the surgical assistants’ equipment count.
Reference [1] Tucker S, Harris PC. The unforgettable finger tourniquet. Injury 2002;33(1):76–7.
0020-1383/03/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0020-1383(02)00348-0
E. Hodgson, I. Grant∗ The Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Addenbrookes Hospital, Hills Road Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK ∗ Corresponding author Tel.: +44-1223-245151 fax: +44-1223-257177 E-mail address: [email protected] (I. Grant) Accepted 9 September 2002