EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance BP Cuffs (Mfg versus Generic)

Has anyone ever looked into the use of generic cuffs with equipment does it affect the equipments validation, accuracy etc. There is a huge cost difference to be exploited here with a large amount of suppliers not alone selling cuffs but Sp02 probes, ECG leads etc etc. What should be the basis of approving do we all have to do our own bench testing and to what standard ?

Yes,
We have gone over to Welch Allyn everywhere - well are in the process of doing that as cuffs fail (are lost).
WA gave us written assurance that their cuffs would give accurate readings on all the manufacturers equipment we have.
We are saving lots of money and on the wards they do not have to have a range of cuffs for each model of equipment, just one avaerage sized cuff and one set of larger and smaller ones that fits all the equipment.
Makes manging stocks of spares easy as well.
RoJo

Mike

Remember when Critikon was a manufacturer in its own right? "Always use the manufacturer's cuffs" was the cry! Well it got taken over by GE (there's another thread there) and low and behold the GE reps came round saying we could use GE cuffs on Critikon machines - no problems!

Need I say more?

I would suggest that a high proportion of the reported inaccuracies are due to the user or the occasional rogue patient for whom automated BP measurement simply won't work. Also using cuffs beyond their expected usefulness doesn't help either.

Brian

In general, cuffs are cuffs (and, again, for all we know, could well all be made in the same shed out there somewhere in the world) ... and, as Robert makes clear, it makes great sense to pick on the product line that appeals most to you, and standardise exclusively on those!

Cuffs are yet another area where "second sourcing" may well reap benefits. The same can obviously also be said about many other items (such as batteries, ECG leads, lamps and such). But (to preempt another question), you need to be a bit more careful when it comes to infusion giving sets!

You ask "what should be the basis of approving"? One answer could be:- "would the users (customers) notice any difference in performance"?

See also earlier threads that have touched on this topic. For example:-

One
Two
Three
Four

We've used Welch Allyn for years without any problems.