Saving Lives with Capnography

It’s become widely accepted that capnography monitoring is useful in EMS to aid in the assessment and treatment of patients in a variety of ways. From verifying and monitoring the position of an ET tube, to monitoring the effectiveness of CPR, capnography is helping providers save more lives.

In June 2012, Oridion Capnography was acquired by Covidien. Covidien is a global leader in the medical device market, offering a complete portfolio of market-leading respiratory function and patient monitoring solutions. Craig Manifold, DO, assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, EMS medical director for the San Antonio Fire Department and San Antonio AirLIFE, stands by the technology.

“Having the capnography monitoring has been indispensible for our calls,” Manifold says. “We use it for both intubated patients and non-intubated patients with the nasal cannulas. The documentation and verification of endotracheal intubation is really not questioned at this point in time, but we’ve been able to expand it in the noninvasive mode with looking at wave form recognition. Our providers are recognizing some of the classic wave forms that can help them differentiate CHF, COPD, etc. It’s also a very useful tool in cardiac arrest management.”

Manifold says San Antonio has taken full advantage of the capnography technology available on its Philips HeartStart MRx Monitor/Defibrillators, using it with intubated and non-intubated patients alike.

“As a medical director, with online medical direction like I get involved with, I use it daily in cardiac arrest situations,” he says. “It’s quite gratifying to have that physiologic process where we can have providers report that the ETCO₂ has changed from 20 and bumped up to 35 or 40, so we know our compressions are being effective. And there’s potential for using that as a marker for ROSC. That’s something we see routinely and I’m just amazed because being able to see the ETCO_2, if we aren’t able to feel a pulse or see a respiratory effort, will drive our continued resuscitation in those types of patients. We’ve had a number of successful outcomes as a result. There’s no question in my mind as to the benefit of end tidal capnography, particularly the wave form process.”

Visit www.covidien.com.