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Roundtable: Anesthesia

Advances in anesthesia and the impact of those changes on the market are just two topics industry experts discuss in this TechNation roundtable article.

Wed Oct 01 2014By TechNation Magazine

anesthesia


 

Advances in anesthesia and the impact of those changes on the market are just two topics industry experts discuss in this TechNation roundtable article. The experts on the panel are CE-Tech Service Manager David Deforge, President of Paragon Service Thomas G. Green, Dräger Director of Marketing David Karchner and Mercury Medical’s Director of Clinical Services Jim Ruggiero.

Q: What are the latest advances or significant changes in anesthesia equipment? What technologies are worthy of the initial investment?

anesthesia 1 Roundtable: AnesthesiaDeforge: The integration of physiological monitors including built-in anesthetic gas modules are now the standard in higher-end anesthesia machines. Heated absorber systems, which reduce moisture in the breathing system, is a benefit for the patient, the clinician and the service technician. The ability to capture data electronically and store this information for medical records, EMR, has been a goal for many years and the OEMs use this as a selling tool. The use of the automated pre-use checkout procedures are becoming a standard. Increased ventilator modes and options are a tool for the clinician to provide improved care for their patients, ranging from neonates to geriatrics.

Green: The main improvements in anesthesia equipment over the past 5-8 years have been ventilation modes that were previously only used in the ICUs. These include Pressure Support Ventilation (PSV), Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (SIMV) and Synchronized Mandatory Minute Ventilation (SIMV) and various derivatives of each mode. These modes are a very nice feature for orthopedic cases where the patient initiates the breath and the ventilator completes the breath.

Karchner: Dräger continues to focus its Research and Development on improving the efficiency of anesthesia delivery. This not only includes proven tools like the Apollo’s Low Flow Wizard, which can significantly reduce the cost of anesthetic agents, but also future technologies that allow customers to achieve faster OR turnaround times and offer enhanced ventilation capabilities.

Ruggiero: I think some of the latest advances in anesthesia equipment are the more sophisticated ventilators and ventilation modes like Volume Control Ventilation (VCV) and Pressure Control Ventilation (PCV) with volume guarantee, along with Pressure Support (PS) ventilation. The integrated ventilators provide a wide range of setting and waveform displays, enabling the end-user more effective care across the wide range of patient sizes and acuity types. One significant change that is worthy of the initial investment is a machine’s capability to interface into the hospital HL7 architecture to provide Electronic Medical Records (EMR).

Q: How will those changes impact the anesthesia equipment market in the future?

anesthesia 2 Roundtable: AnesthesiaDeforge: The improved ventilator options, automated checkout procedures, built in monitors and heated absorber systems will increase the cost of the machines, with the goal of improving patient safety and allow the institution to keep up with the pace of the ever-changing healthcare environment. This will also make the older generation machines seem inadequate for today’s needs. Until the older generation machines are replaced, it will become more of a challenge to maintain them due to a shortage of repair parts. Facilities and/or anesthesia departments must be pro-active and budget to buy newer machines.

Green: If an anesthesia provider deems these ventilation modes necessary for patient care, then it could result in the sale of replacement equipment.

Karchner: It will be more important than ever for the healthcare provider to work together with their vendor to quantify the value these differentiating technologies offer over the useful life of the anesthesia workstation. Many of these new technologies create the opportunity to significantly reduce existing fixed costs and the patient’s length of stay.

Ruggiero: These changes will impact the anesthesia equipment market by improving patient outcomes. The more sophisticated the equipment becomes, the better chances of detecting problems while anesthetizing patients and making the necessary corrections in real time. More than 30 years ago, most anesthesia machines didn’t even come with an oxygen monitor on them. Advances in technology have contributed to a decrease in morbidity and an increase in quality of perioperative management. In addition, with the interface of the anesthesia equipment into the hospital IT servers, information can be integrated into the patient’s medical records.

To read the full article visit the October 2014 edition of Technation

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