Monitoring Respiratory and Metabolic Levels in Critically Ill Patients

Sphere Medical, an innovative company in critical care monitoring and diagnostics equipment, announces the introduction of new functionality to its Proxima™ bedside blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite analyser.

When managing critically ill patients, the trend in blood test results is as crucial as the values themselves. By displaying Trend Graphs for respiratory and metabolic analytes (including glucose) on Proxima’s bedside monitor, clinicians are able to quickly determine patient progress. Are they improving or deteriorating, or is a therapeutic intervention having the required effect? For example, following ventilator weaning or during glycemic control.

As a patient-connected acute respiratory and metabolic monitoring system, Proxima displays graphs of up to three different analytes simultaneously. Each chart shows normal physiological ranges for the analyte, giving an instant assessment of patient condition over a time period from 2 up to 48 hours. Simplifying display selection, seven pre-configured trend panels relating to specific clinical conditions, such as respiratory failure and glycemic control, are available at the touch of the bedside screen.

Further supporting efficient critical care patient monitoring, Proxima’s new Scheduling function enables the user to request a visual and optional audible alert to prompt for the next blood test. Underpinning many care protocols, such as for head trauma and insulin infusion, Scheduling ensures regular measurements programmed from every 15 minutes up to every 4 hours are prompted for. It also streamlines workflow around arterial blood sample measurement. Times since the last measurement and to the next scheduled measurement are also continuously displayed on the monitor.

Commenting on the new functionality of the Proxima bedside blood gas analyzer, Dr Gavin Troughton, Sphere Medical, said, “Close monitoring and rapid assessment of the status of the sickest patients is essential for effective clinical decision-making. In support of this, we have introduced Trends Graphs to Proxima to give the clinician an immediate, intuitive understanding of patient status, as well as the interaction between interdependent parameters. Also, using the new Scheduling functionality, compliance to sampling protocols is supported, which could allow for earlier intervention in rapidly changing clinical conditions and potentially facilitate better patient outcomes.”