Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Delightful — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:17:14 GMT

I was at a CPD meeting last night, my personal thoughts and comments on the meeting are as follows:

The talk itself given by Dawn Sheppard VN was very good, interesting whilst entertaining, great videa captions and she brought along to the meeting a good supply of the products. After reading on this thread, I agree the costing was left until the end of the night, the Rabbit works out at approx £120, however this can be used 40 times, so even with a huge mark up on each use it really doesnt work out to be that expensive, does it?? How much would a client that has previously lost a Rabbit under anaesthetic, pay if they new about V Gel?? I wonder, the company also offered a interest free account which is pretty good too. I think V Gel will be the way forward, goodbye ET and Hello VG.

I would advise anyone that can get to a CPD meeting - dont hesitate go along and judge for yourself, I dont think you will be sorry you did.

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Dawns — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 19:27:20 GMT

I am delighted to see that the v-gels are having such an impact on the veterinary profession. I would like to have this opportunity to address a couple of issues that have arisen within this blog in order to clear up a few questions. When I was first introduced to the v-gel, I have to be honest and say that I thought they were expensive too… however the veterinary profession has been stuck in such a rut the last few years and we are all impregnated with this insane idea that we must re-use endotracheal tubes until they fall apart or cause so much trauma to our patients that we have no choice but to throw them. Sadly the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Small Animal Fatalities, from Brodbelt et al, Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia (2008), showed the horrific extent of death rates in both healthy and sick animals. These published death rates related to anaesthesia in healthy and sick animals are much higher than they should be and has put the humble ETT in the frame for the vast majority of these unnecessary deaths.

These ETT’s, in accordance with their manufacturers guidance, are single use devices and as such are not designed to be re-used and re-used and re-used and re…. you get the idea! So if we directly compare the £3.50 ETT with £130 v-gel we are alarmed but this is not a fair and direct comparison in accordance with the manufactures guides lines. The v-gel is guaranteed to last a minimum of 40 uses, autoclaved after each use: the ETT is single use. So now our fair comparison shows £3.50 v £3.20. So in actual fact, the v-gel offers a very competitive rate, which is perfectly acceptable for clients to pay. In fact, most practices who have lead the way in adopting the v-gel system, are generating income… the FAB conference back in November 2012 had us talking to rabbit owners who are truly worried about anaesthesia in their bunnies.

“I was very interested and impressed with v-gel. I am always interested in developments that would improve the safety of anaesthetics. I would be very happy to pay the increased cost incurred by using v-gel. It is a small price to pay for an increase in their survival of operations.” Kath Wilson Rabbit owner, Aylesbury, UK

You only have to follow the RABBIT AWARENESS WEEK (RAW) Facebook page to see reasons why owners are dead against neutering of their pets. We all know neutered rabbits are happier, healthier animals; but 75% of comments indicated fear and negativity as they had experiences deaths of their pets in the past. If any part of our anaesthetic procedure fails, then so does our promise of the patients care to our pet owner… we ought to be looking at improving this perception.

There are various situations we have to deal with in practice. Docsinnovent had provided you another tool in your tool-box in order for you to consider the procedure, consider your patient and select the most appropriate airway management device. This may be a mask, the ETT or the v-gel, but by having a wider choice will enable us to make the correct choice and put the patient first.

I, for one, am proud to work for Docsinnovent, a juvenile company which has had the foresight to invest in the veterinary profession. The v-gel as an innovative new device is never going to be “cheap”: 4 years of hard work and sweat, money and risk taking to produce the most innovative airway management our profession has seen- device needs some admiration.

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

tara sutton — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 23:51:16 GMT

Hi Laura,

They are working well at our practice and all our vets are happy at placing them. The only snag we've encountered is that we ordered two sizes which we thought would cover pretty much most rabbits but have found that we are having to invest in a couple more now which is a bit of a cost issue. At the moment I think you can get 40 uses out of each tube but I think they are looking into increasing this which will help cost issues.

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Laura Ringsell — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:35:11 GMT

I went on a cpd evening in October on them, they are seriously good and extremely easy to use but as f1 chick said seriously expensive.....that bit came right at the end of the 2 hours. A mixed six pack of varying sizes of ones suitable and most popular for cats and rabbits worked out at about £75 a month for a year and I am not entirely sure how you would get that cost back. I am hoping the price comes down a bit.....

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

F1chick — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:17:01 GMT

I had a go at my CPD day. SO easy to use! (but expensive)

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Dot RVN — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:57:04 GMT

Thanks Martha and Aimee. Docsinnovet are coming to our practice next month to talk about airway management and use of V-Gel, then let us trial it. Good point about dentals, I'll see how it goes!

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Delightful — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:20:39 GMT

Kent BVNA having an evening of CPD in January all come along and find out more, details will be posted in the events page soon

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Mark Hedberg — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:32:35 GMT

They're sponsoring an Emergency Rabbit Nursing day at CAW in Huntingdon on December 1, Irene's the regional rep and very helpful. (PM me and I can get you in touch with her.) Laura Slinger's teaching the day - http://caw.ac.uk/courses/sc/sc-info.aspx?scc=EENR

Cheers,
Mark

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

martha — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:10:30 GMT

We have had them on trial at my practice and they seem to work well, easy to place and fine for ippv. We've had no problems that I am aware of, but haven't used them all the time as you can't use them for dentals as they are quite bulky compared to normal et tube, so all dentals are intubated with normal et tube.

Re: Docsinnovent v-gel supraglottic airway devices

Aimee Barber — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:09:34 GMT

we have just ordered one so once we use it i'll let you know.