Critical Care CPAP for All EMS Situations

As EMS agencies across the United States look for ways to incorporate the ideas of mobile integrated healthcare (MIH) into their practices, one of the main tenets is reducing hospital stays and avoiding readmittance.

Gonzales (LA) Fire/Rescue has found a way to do just that with the Airon MACS CPAP system. MACS is an easy-to-use, economical mask CPAP system. Its demand flow system delivers CPAP without wasting oxygen. A calibrated knob sets the CPAP level and a switch selects 65% or 100% oxygen. Per run costs are less due to lower oxygen costs and affordable patient circuits.

MACS is designed for application by mask or endotracheal tube. Indications include: congestive heart failure (CHF), asthma, acute respiratory failure (ARF), trauma, COPD, near drowning or any patient with severe breathing difficulty. MACS supports patients in respiratory distress who would otherwise require intubation.

Gonzales EMS Chief Mickey Hopkins, NREMT-P, says the agency has been using the MACS for a couple years now, and invested in the device for simple enough reasons: “We wanted a CPAP device that was easy to use and very cost effective on initial purchase, and cost effective on a case by case basis.” What Gonzales Fire/Rescue got in the MACS was much more.

“The MACS is highly effective in the field,” Hopkins says. “It’s very easy to use and maintain. It is easy to demonstrate in training situations, but you can only truly see how effective it is when using it on a true patient. We mainly use it for congestive heart failure patients and it does a superior job of pushing the fluid down to the base of the lungs, allowing the patient to better breath, and in combination with Lasix does an awesome job of easing the patient’s efforts in breathing. It also greatly diminishes the frequency of intubations and ICU stays that otherwise would often be required of this type of patient.”

Hopkins says he’s already recommended the MACS CPAP system to his peers at other agencies, mainly because he’s found it to be highly cost effective compared to other options on the market. “That combined with the ease of use and positive patient outcomes makes it a no-brainer from my point of view.”

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