Hi all,

My co-hort Carol uses Kelly all the time and he has started having this problem just recently.  When she (or someone) checks the radial pulse, he goes asystolic.  We are not finding any thing detached or amiss and the programming is OK. 

 Any suggestions?  She is waiting on a callback from Tech Support now.

Thanks,

Dani

Could it be battery related, when radial pulse is activated it consumes more power

and possible cause the unit to temporarily cease.

This does not appear to be the problem as the Vital Sim box is plugged in. 

Today I was working with her and we could get him to shut down by checking his radial, brachial or carotid pulse.  At first we could check them one at a time and only trigger it when two were checked together.  Then, it happened when we just checked one. 

Something I noticed, the box light would flash when we would check a pulse and then it changed to a flashing red before it went off.  It seems that the box is actually going off rather than going into Asystole to me. 

We did try this with a different Vital Sim box and the same thing happened.  Also with the shortest line (no extension) in place. 

Any other ideas?  We are open to trying anything!

 Thanks,

Dani

If two vitalsim's has been used and still failing, i would suspect the pulse unit causing the failure

but since all are failing, and they are connected seperately into the vitalsim box im heading more, 

if the power input from the external power is not capable of the current demand, during pulsing.

Do you have any info regarding the power unit, Volt and Amp. ?

Trygve
 

You have eliminated the VitalSim Base unit as your problem. I would lay him face down and open up the back plate by removing the 9 perimeter screws. Once the plate is removed check the cable that hangs out of the manikin that normally connects to the VitalSim. Inside the manikin that cable connects to an initerface circuit board with 2 set screws on either side of the board just like it connects to the VitalSim. Make sure that connector is snug and secure. If you have another VitalSim Base unit you may have another MCKelly? You could take the arm off the good one and try it in the bad one.  Anything is possible. When you say asystole are you losing ECG on a monitor AND losing pulses?

Scott C

Hi Scott,

Carol did this just yesterday with one of the tech's on the phone.  I came down to assist and double checked it all and it was all snug.  Our rep also came through and checked out the software side of things (his double check) as we had done that also.

We have VS Anne and the VS Kid as well as SimMan.  I think that the SimMan arm is the same as MC Kelly so I could give that a try.

Yes, we see asystole on the monitor but I now realise that the VS box is turning itself off.  When you are feeling the pulses just before this happens, you feel a stronger pulse and then it stops.  I also noticed that the light on the box blinks when we check the pulses just before this happens but not before.

Thanks,

Dani

Sounds like an odd one. A few more things to try. Disconnect the arm in the chest cavity and try the carotids and see if MCK stays stable. You can also disconnect the Load Box in the back cavity via the gray phone cable that interconnects the two circuits in the back and try your pulses and see if the VS shuts down.

 Something is shutting the base unit down. We need to narrow it down. You are correct MCKelly and SimMan share the same left arm.

 Are we %100 sure that when we are using the AC/DC adapter power supply that we are plugged into a good AC source?

SC

Thanks Scott,

I will give that a try next week. 

The power is plugged into a good supply.  I checked that first and it is on the red plug (gen supply in emergency) so it should never be w/o power.

Have a great weekend and I will let you know about the pulses on Tues or Wed.

Dani ;o)

Hello Everyone,

Well, before I could do much more with Kelly, he was sent back to New York for a 'Spa Vacation' with Laerdal.  They were not able to find anything wrong with him and it was very frustrating for all.

 I decided to do some labeling on the equipment and make sure that all the odds and ends stayed with who they belonged with and low and behold - I found that Kelly's power cord was not his.  It was the one for the wireless mic and did not fit correctly.  Almost but not perfect.  Also, the input and output is very different.  Kelly is on his way home now and hopefully we will have no further issues with this. 

I will be checking out the power cord first thing and checking the pulses to see what he does.  I will keep you posted.

 Word of advise - Label your equipment and who it belongs to so that there are no mixups.  Even when it looks OK it might not be the exact fit and be doing the job.

Dani