An aspirator is a small vacuum pump that is used to suck out mucus and other bodily fluids from a patient.
Aspirators vary in price from a few hundreds to a few thousand dollars. So how do you know which one is good?
The first step you must take is to get in touch with your doctor, healthcare advisor, or hospital and ask for recommendations. When you do this remember, some of these people are actually paid by the companies to recommend their products. So their recommendations are to be taken carefully. If the doctor recommends just one aspirator, see if he can recommend a few more. Also, if you can, walk around the healthcare facility and see what aspirators they are using.
Go to your pharmacists and find out from him what aspirators he recommends and the reasons for doing so. Pick up a few brochures from him and bring them home.
Now it is time to do some research.
1. Go to the Net and see what information you can get on each of the recommended products. Surf around and look for positive and negative comments. Weigh them carefully and take notes. If you are not in a hurry, exchange some notes with the commenters and ask them about their experience.
2. The first step will enable you to strike off a few recommendations. Now go to the sites of the remaining products and find out information about the company – how long have they been around, their size, their service network, and what warranties/guarantees they provide. If the information you want is not available, get a contact number and call them. Ask for clarifications.
3. You will now have a few products. Tabulate them on a spreadsheet with Company name, brand, model number/name, price, local contact details, dealer information, etc. Start filling in these and enter some points for reliability, quality, warranty, user evaluation, etc.
4. Call the dealers and ask for availability of both the aspirator and the spares or replacements. Check with him where he gets the spares and replacements from. If the warehouse is far away and he needs more than a few hours, it may not be a good idea to buy that product.
5. In your spreadsheet now sort the product based on the qualitative points you have listed in terms of you personal preference such as brand name, price, spares, availability, etc.
6. Talk to your doctor again for confirmation and you are good to go.
Author recommends to check out more reviews about Nasal Aspirators.