Products
Exhalometer EX100
The Exhalometer EX100 is a hand-held, microprocessor-controlled instrument that measures the expiratory parameters (tidal volume, respiration rate and minute volume) of patients being manually ventilated.
A number of studies have shown that when manual resuscitation devices (MRDs) are employed, many patients are lost due to the administration of inappropriate ventilation.
Excessive ventilation has claimed many lives. (Ref. Death by hyperventilation: A common and life threatening problem during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. by Dr. Aufderheide et. al. in the Sept. 2004 issue of Critical Care Medicine).
Inadequate ventilation, particularly if the patient sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI), can have disastrous consequences. (Ref. Combat Hypoxia: The importance of airway management & oxygenation of the traumatic brain injury patient. By Gregg Rosner in the March 2003 edition of Jems: Journal of emergency medical services)
The Exhalometer should therefore be used by all pre-hospital and in-hospital healthcare workers who perform manual resuscitation, as it enables them to regulate the ventilation they are providing and may thereby contribute to a dramatic improvement in the outcome of their patients.
In more detail, the Exhalometer measures and displays:
- The exhalation flow rate
- The size of each exhaled breath (tidal volume)
- The number of respirations during the past minute
- The amount of gas the patient exhaled during the past minute (minute volume)
This information permits the rescuer to easily control the ventilation they are providing the patient and thereby improve treatment. And for this reason the Exhalometer should be used whenever, wherever, and for whatever purpose the MRD is being used; whether it is being used for CPR or to provide temporary ventilation and whether it is being used inside a hospital or in a pre-hospital setting.
The Exhalometer serves other functions as well:
If the amount of ventilation that a patient is actually receiving, as indicated by the Exhalometer, seems to be inconsistent with what a trained rescuer thinks their patient should be getting, based on their manipulation of the bag, it should prompt the rescuer to look for leakage around the patient’s face mask, or a possible Bag Valve Mask (BVM) malfunction.
Should a patient begin spontaneous respiration, the Exhalometer continues to measure and display their expiratory parameters, and thereby keeps the rescuer informed as to the adequacy of the patient’s effort.
The Exhalometer is an excellent training aid. When healthcare workers are being taught to use a BVM it provides the trainees with the feedback they need so that they can perfect their technique by showing them exactly how much oxygen the “patient” got each time they squeezed the bag and how much ventilation was administered during the past minute. Practice in the classroom can make perfect in the field.