Thursday, June 8, 2006

Handheld Lasers in the Emergency Department

Filed under: Emergency Medicine

Yes, frikkin' lasers! After years of watching dermatologists have all the fun, someone found a use for lasers in the ED (and, really, the rest of the hospital).

The model in question is a Norwood Abbey LAD-01 Er:YAG laser, and researchers use it to decrease the pain of IV cannulation.

Apparently, using a handheld laser over the planned IV site will ablate the topmost layer of skin, allowing transdermal anesthetics to seep though. Patients reported less pain in this randomized controlled trial (the patients and researchers were also blinded, though it's not clear whether it was by design protocol, or from the power of the lasers).

So, the next time you see an administrator strolling through the ED, ask for a handheld laser! The evidence supports it, patients love it, and you deserve your own laser gun.

More from Norwood Abbey laser research...

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