Health devices
-
Automatic gas-powered resuscitators may seem like a good choice for ventilating patients in mass critical care situations. But ECRI Institute believes that the respiratory needs of most patients in such scenarios will exceed what these devices can provide. Therefore, stockpiling large quantities of them for disasters may not be the best use of your resources.
-
Radio-frequency (RF) tags are now being embedded in items such as surgical sponges, towels, and pads to reduce the chances that these objects will be left in patients after a procedure. Find out how--and how well--RF sponge-detection systems work, including our view of the two systems currently on the market: ClearCount Medical's SmartSponge System, which counts sponges in addition to detecting them. RF Surgical's RF Surgical Detection System, which is a detect-only system.
-
Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machines provide therapy to remove excess fluid and metabolic wastes and toxins from the blood of patients who suddenly and temporarily lose kidney function. In this Evaluation, we provide test results and ratings for two CRRT machines: * B. Braun Diapact, * Gambro Prismaflex. We also offer judgments on three other machines that we did not test: * Edwards Lifesciences Aquarius, * Fresenius 2008K , * NxStage System One.
-
Syringe pumps are less widely used than general-purpose infusion pumps, but they still provide a significant number of crucial infusions. We believe that, just as with general-purpose pumps, syringe pumps should be purchased only if they incorporate a dose error reduction system. This Evaluation reviews four syringe pumps that have such a system, and our findings focus primarily on how well those systems perform.
-
There are many reasons that the numbers of physiologic monitoring system alarms that clinicians must respond to can grow out of control. This article identifies the most common reasons and delivers recommendations for handling them. Although alarms are an important part of patient care and safety, they can easily reach quantities that overwhelm nurses, thereby compromising alarm effectiveness. ⋯ Rather, the way to combat alarm overload is to first identify the various sources of excessive alarms and to then take actions to individually address each source. This article recommends key actions to take and describes how these actions can be organized into a systematic plan. The effect of these efforts should be better clinical efficiency and improved patient safety.