Critical care paramedics benefit from ZOLL’s ventilation solutions

When a victim is in respiratory distress and requires ventilatory support, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) critical care paramedics (CCPs) are dispatched. CCPs are specialist paramedics who work as senior registered healthcare professionals on scene.

The CCP supervises and prepares paramedics to provide advanced critical care during ground and air transport of critically ill or injured patients. CCPs can administer certain drugs and undertake emergency procedures such as intubations and airway management strategies.

For use in their single response vehicles, SECAmb needed advanced portable ventilators that provided outstanding ventilatory patient support. It was critical to the CCPs that the ventilator followed NHS Trust practice guidelines, could be used on both adult and paediatric patients, was easy to operate but also offered a wider capability of enhanced care as compared to currently available urgent and emergency respiratory support.

Compact and powerful technology

After much review, SECAmb identified the ZOLL Z Vent as the portable ventilator it wanted CCPs to respond with. Z Vent offers all the standard ventilation modes SECAmb was looking for, including Assist Control (AC) (with volume or pressure control) and Synchronised Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (SIMV) for intubated patients. For non-invasive ventilation modes, it was important that the ventilator offer Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP).

While data shows that noninvasive ventilation via CPAP may be clinically significant for patients in acute respiratory distress, it is also the treatment of choice for pre-hospital care for patients with congestive heart failure and acute Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Bi-level mode and other advanced features typically found on larger, stationary ventilators, such as a clear, automatically adjusted display with ventilation curves, the capability to measure plateau pressures and inverse ratio ventilation are also available on the Z Vent transport ventilator. It is compact, robust and easy to carry to a scene or place on a stretcher with a patient.

“With the Z Vent being a brand-new piece of equipment to us and, to my knowledge, us being the first paramedic-led programme to use an advanced ventilator in the UK, ZOLL absolutely recognised the importance of ensuring that we were confident and competent in its use.”

James Rickard, Critical Care Clinical Operations Manger, SECAmb.

Providing advanced airway management by using a mechanical ventilator in pre-hospital care can be challenging. SECAmb practitioners appreciated the ventilator’s ease-of-use. The practical “Touch, Turn, Confirm” functionality lets medics navigate settings quickly to provide high-quality ventilations on scene and during transport.

Smart Help on-screen prompts support their efforts to safely resolve any device alarms. Weighing just over 4 kilograms, practitioners at SECAmb felt it would be easy to transport to a scene and provide flexibility, since it can operate independently of an oxygen source. The 10-hour battery life (in temperatures as low as -25° C) means medics know they can depend on the Z Vent ventilator during long transports.

Unparalleled education and support

In addition to its extensive features, light weight, and durability, SECAmb’s decision to choose Z Vent was heavily influenced by the level of service, support and clinical education ZOLL provided. Long before SECAmb decided to purchase, ZOLL brought in ventilation specialists to work with practitioners at SECAmb to ensure they were comfortable and confident in how to provide ventilatory support to a patient in the field.

ZOLL put together a bespoke ventilation education summit for SECAmb CCPs. The summit reviewed and discussed ventilation use cases and provided a brief review of anatomy and physiology. It culminated with a hands-on session ventilating swine lungs using different parameter settings to observe the effects of robust oxygen delivery.

“ZOLL have been supportive of our journey from day one and have allowed us the space to learn the machine but with the understanding that there is constant support at any time from the ZOLL team.”

James Rickard, Critical Care Clinical Operations Manager.

“The vent summit was a fantastic way to finish the roll out of the devices within the South East Coast Ambulance Service. It was also a great opportunity to get together with ZOLL in an informal setting and enjoy getting to know the device under the watchful eye of the highly experienced and knowledgeable faculty [and] staff who were so very welcoming, patient and reassuring.

“It must be said that the addition of the wet lab made the event for us, as the ability to see the ventilator in use, on real lungs, really brought home the reality of the intervention we will now be delivering,” explained Rickard.

Z Vent in clinical use

Nearly six months after deployment of the Z Vent ventilators, the team from ZOLL continues to support SECAmb practitioners’ efforts to improve patient outcomes. SECAmb has identified challenging cases that occurred during the first six months. ZOLL ventilation staff and educators have reviewed these cases and created a bespoke clinical workshop to address particular challenges, helping SECAmb improve future patient outcomes.

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The industry will once again be gathering at the NEC, Birmingham for The Emergency Services Show 2024, co located with The Emergency Tech Show on 18-19 September, check out the full exhibitor list here. You can find ZOLL in Hall 5, stand G210.