WEEK SIX (2)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. 

Alhamdulillah, finally I know where I can get the electrodes. I had ordered the electrodes from the Medical Electronics section’s technician, Kak Siti. The price of a pack of Silver-Silver Chloride disposable electrode cost me RM 38.00. The pack of 100 electrodes is ordered from GAZ Engineering Supply and Trading. I will get the pack after this mid-term break. For IC INA126P, I had ordered from Element14. The IC cost me about RM 25.00 for 3 pieces. 

I had found something about the electrodes. The differences between reusable and disposable electrode patch. The AMBU, a Denmark company that develops, produces, and markets diagnostic and life-supporting equipment and solutions to hospitals and rescue services had done the test to Cardiology Unit, Hospital Ramon Y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.

The result from the test was something else from my assumption. There are more advantages of disposable electrode compared to reusable electrode. The disposable electrode is easier to use and need less preparation prior to application compared to reusable electrode. The reusable electrode fell off in 35% of the patients while none of the single-use of disposable electrode fell off.

There is no difference in evaluation of the signal quality between both electrodes. There is also no patient experience any discomfort from neither the reusable nor disposable electrodes. But, the reusable electrodes were observed to leave red marks in the skin after electrode removal.

For microbiology test, there are presences of microorganism on the reusable electrodes. The microorganism could not be removed by cleaning the product according to manufacturer’s instruction. Several of the bacteria seen on the electrodes are in literature related to hospital acquired infections. 

Barakallah.