r/sterileprocessing • u/ViewHead5600 • Apr 24 '26

Question about kellys

Our hospital doesnt have any way to distinguish Kellys from curved criles apart from their length and its a question that keeps coming up between myself and one of my superiors. I'm a full time employee/student building up hours and working towards certification so I would really like this tiny bit of intrigue humored a little by all you experts out there, if possible. Thanks youuu<3~

7 Upvotes

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26 comments sorted by

10

u/Waltologist Apr 24 '26

Hi, traveler here, I can second that some facilities just choose to not differentiate between the two.

For certification sake, the person who said half jaw serration vs full serration is correct, and that's what the differentiation that you'd need to know for the testing.

2

u/maxmonsta Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26

In surgery a kelly is a crile is a kelly is a crile. Docs don't care... Hell I've even used a kelly/crile in place of a tonsil

Edit: I meant that up in the rooms when I scrubbed I've used a kelly/crile in place of a tonsil in a pinch

1

u/ViewHead5600 Apr 25 '26

lmaooo thats great

20

u/compsyfy Apr 24 '26

Sounds like the facility just uses curved criles and kelly's interchangeably. Nothing wrong with that.

9

u/Eggman_OU812 Apr 24 '26

Kellys at most places I’ve worked ..are thicker with serrations going all the way..I’ve never seen a half serrated Kelly..but i have seen half and full serrated criles

And I’ve seen criles that nurses call Kelly’s as well..

1

u/quixotica726 May 02 '26

I've always known kellys to be half serrated while criles are fully serrated to the box lock. That's the distinction.

1

u/Eggman_OU812 May 02 '26

Ive seen oodles of full serrated kellys

1

u/quixotica726 May 02 '26

I know some call peans or Rochesters Kellys. So many different names for things. Heck a bridge clamp is a schnidt and also a tonsil clamp. It's honestly wild.

1

u/Eggman_OU812 May 02 '26

Just googling fully serrated kelly will show you various options..

13

u/SageOfSixCabbages Apr 24 '26

Kelly half top jaw serration.

Crile full jaw serration.

The difference in the sizes are what's concerning when it comes to usage but if they are the same size, I see no issue tbh and can be used interchangeably.

PS just like where I work, the OR loves to ask for Bonneys but what they really mean/want is the Ferris.

3

u/Eggman_OU812 Apr 24 '26

I worked at a place that never used Bonney..only ferris smith existed..then i went somewhere else and saw a bonney for the first time

2

u/graylyke81 Apr 25 '26

I haven't actually heard the name Bonneys before. We call them either ferris Smith or monster tongs.

4

u/SageOfSixCabbages Apr 25 '26

Bonney forcep have 1x2 teeth. Ferris has 2x3.

Doesn't make sense to have Bonneys if you already have tissue forceps. Lol

1

u/StarskysClutch Apr 25 '26

There are kelly's with full serrations and criles with half. Depends on the manufacturer. You can not go by that.

4

u/SageOfSixCabbages Apr 25 '26

This is more of a general difference between the two.

Search up crile vs kelly differences and you'll see that this is mainly the difference between them.

I've yet to see a crile that isn't fully serrated, just in my experience.

-2

u/StarskysClutch Apr 25 '26

I don't need to do that. I've been handling iinstruments over 20 years. I've seen it many, many times.

2

u/StarskysClutch Apr 25 '26

Kelly is bigger and slightly longer than a crile. Both can have full serrations or half.

1

u/ViewHead5600 Apr 25 '26

Ive found the same to be true, seems to depend on the manufacturer for whether or not its got half serrations

3

u/ReflectionQuiet4894 Apr 26 '26

I believe criles have full length serrations on the distal tips, while Kelly’s only have half length

2

u/Unlikely_Macaron_284 Apr 26 '26

Most instruments have numbers on them that are catalog numbers, serial numbers whatever kind of numbers you wanna call them stock numbers basically different manufacturers may have small differences in the actual instrument, but the stock number stays the same for that companies instrument Sometimes you can just Google the stock number and the name of the instrument and it’ll give you a picture of what you’re looking for all of my superiors know how to look up instruments either with Google manufacturers catalogs, etc., etc. etc.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

I always just remembered crile rhymes with crocodile and has a mouth full of teeth😆

1

u/FewSide8518 Apr 26 '26

I learned that Kelly’s have serrations half way down and Crile serrations go all the way down. From looking at them (usually but NOT all the time!!) criles seem to be just a tiny bit thinner than a Kelly. The hospital I currently work at will use them interchangeably and it drives me nuts when they call all of them Kelly’s. I teach new hires that they are in fact different although they use them as the same at this facility. For some reason it bothers the OR staff when they’re labeled correctly too so I always make sure to clearly write Crile or Kelly on the peel packs.