MD Buyline provides supply chain management solutions for hospitals and healthcare systems to get the medical capital and consumable pricing they deserve. The insights provided by MD Buyline help health facilities achieve expert insight on medical technology products, pricing, and performance to reduce healthcare costs.

1. ASA 2013 Conference Insight | Anesthesiology Medical Technology
By KatheyLeibold
http://www.mdbuyline.com/asa-2013-conference-insight#sthash.C0NlHiM1.dpbs
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA’s)
annual meeting in San Francisco, California. I have always found the ASA meeting to be an excellent
opportunity to view equipment and speak with vendors associated with anesthesia delivery, monitoring
and airway management. While this year’s clinical theme was “Global Partners in Quality Outcomes and
Patient Safety”, both of these topics have been a long time focus of the ASA meetings and at the
forefront of their initiatives.10.24.13
The opening session featured Dr. Charles Denham, a leading patient advocate, and actor Dennis Quaid, a
spokesperson for patient safety issues. Their Chasing Zero documentary highlighted the goal of zero
accidental deaths. Outside of the opening sessions, I had the chance to visit with several vendors and
take an in-depth look at some of the new offerings by anesthesia delivery system vendors.
At the Draeger Medical booth, they showcased their complete product line for anesthesia delivery,
including a new feature requested by customers – an integrated O2/air blender. I also had the
opportunity to see the Infinity C700 Carestation monitor which they are describing as a Medical Cockpit,
offering centralized viewing and control of patient data. The C700 complements the anesthesia machine
and creates a true workstation. This monitor was on display with their Apollo anesthesia system.
GE Healthcare had the Aisys CS2 on display; it is currently pending FDA approval. The Aisys CS2 offers a
touchscreen control, additional modes of ventilation and ecoFLOW, all of which GE claims were
designed to bring the controls to the clinician. The B450 was also on display; it is the new OR /critical
care monitor currently pending FDA approval.
The Mindray booth highlighted their new system, the A7, which is currently pending 510(K) clearance.
Spacelabs shared some new features that will be available for the ARKON including Trending and
Spirometry; representatives noted the Flexport digital interface to patient monitoring and the new
Checkout feature.
Some of the additional product showcased included Cheetah Medical which had large crowds for the inbooth demonstrations of their “Fluid Optimization Machine”. “Defensive Monitoring” was highlighted in
the Nihon Kohden booth with their Surveillance Central Monitoring Solution featuring the Prefense early
detection and notification system. This system offers central monitoring for all standard patient
parameters plus end tidal CO2. Nihon Kohden also introduced their LifeScope compact, lightweight
transport monitor.
At the Welch Allyn booth, the EarlySense Monitor and Connex with Respiratory Monitoring System was
previewed for attendees. The EarlySense offers a solution for central monitoring on med-surg floors.
This system utilizes non-contact technology to monitor patient’s heart rate, respiratory rate and body
movement. The Connex is an electronic vital sign documentation system for spot check and continuous

2. monitoring. Respiratory Monitoring adds respiratory status to standard vital sign monitoring. This
provides additional safety for patients on general care floors that are receiving opioid medications.
If you attended ASA, I’d love to hear what you thought about vendor offerings and the clinical sessions!
About the Analyst
KatheyLeibold, RRT, Senior Clinical Analyst
Kathey is the Clinical Analyst for respiratory care, pulmonary diagnostic and anesthesia products at MD
Buyline. She also provides support to the sleep and neurodiagnostic product lines. Her additional
product responsibilities include dialysis products, hyperbaric systems and the patient monitoring
categories of pulse oximetry, capnography, cerebral oximetry and anesthesia depth monitoring. She
graduated from South Plains College with a degree in Respiratory Care.
- See more at: http://www.mdbuyline.com