One of the main problems with in-hospital cardiac arrest is failure to recognize the deteriorating patient. Data shows that in approximately 80% of cases there is deterioration in vital signs during the few hours before cardiac arrest. If such deterioration is recognized, many unwanted events can be prevented. This is of course anything but an easy task. In many hospitals, vital signs are measured and recorded several times a day by the nurses. To help detect deterioration and predict cardiac arrest, early warning scoring systems are used to allocate points to vital signs on the basement of their deflection from normal range. However, such systems are hard to implement and have shown conflicting results. There are many issues like low frequency of observation, staff work overload and human errors.

In areas of intensive care, patients are closely monitored 24 hours a day, but patients on other wards, who are not immune to cardiac arrest, are not. Attaching all patients in the hospital to conventional monitors is unnecessary, expensive, restricting and just completely ridiculous. But what if we had monitors that are not like those big boxes with lots of wires we are used to? What if we had monitors that look like small band-aids? What if these monitors could do all the work on their own and warn medical staff of deteriorating patients?

A company from UK called Toumaz makes just that kind of devices, which hold a great potential of increasing survival rates of in-hospital cardiac arrest. They have developed a new generation of ultra-small body-worn monitors that deliver continual observation and patient management in both general ward and outpatient settings. Once admitted, a patient gets a small band-aid like wireless monitor attached to his chest. This small computer on a chip receives physiological signals such as the ECG and respiratory activity, converts them into heart rate and respiratory rate data, and transmits them to the hospital computer database. From their warnings of deterioration can be sent out everywhere, to nurse’s stations or doctor’s mobile phones. Measurements happen automatically as frequently as every two minutes, with patients moving around their rooms or the whole hospital. Once the system, which can incorporate other measurements like blood pressure or oxygen saturation, is perfected, it will free the caregivers to focus on other important tasks and have great impact on improving patient outcomes.

You can read more about the Sensium Digital Patch from Toumaz in the latest Personalised Medicine supplement of Electronics Letters.

We are proud to announce that our founder Dr. Kovic and his colleagues will present their scientific paper investigating ergonomics of the CPR PRO cradle, which has been shown to reduce rescuer fatigue. Their paper titled “CPR PRO DEVICE REDUCES RESCUER FATIGUE DURING COUNTINOUS CHEST COMPRESSION CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION: A RANDOMIZED CROSS-OVER STUDY USING A MANIKIN MODEL” will be presented in the form of a poster, which will be on display in the venue throughout the event.

You can download the final program of the Resuscitation 2011 Symposium, with its main topic being implementation of the latest CPR guidelines introduced last year.

Hope to see you in Malta!

Mobile phones have in the recent years become the most ubiquitous piece of modern technology. According to the International Telecommunication Union, there were an estimated 5.3 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide at the end of 2010. Sales of smartphones, which allow users to connect to the Internet and run thousands of applications, are rapidly growing and are predicted to overtake basic mobile phones in developed countries by the end of 2011. Owning to their wide availability in both urban and rural areas of developed and developing countries, and their advanced capabilities, mobile phones posses a great lifesaving potential in medical emergencies.

Just recently our group has published a paper in the Resuscitation journal titled “Mobile phone in the Chain of Survival”. In this short paper we propose an upgraded Chain of Survival (shown above), with each of its links strengthened by mobile technology. Initially, mobile phones can be used to educate rescuers about appropriate actions performed in each step of the resuscitation process. However, they can also assume a more active role of helping the rescuers in a real medical emergency. They have a potential to allow for a faster and superior Emergency Medical Services contact, assure a higher quality of CPR and quicker retrieval of an automated external defibrillator, and facilitate a finer post resuscitation care through telemedical and clinical decision support systems.

Our work on the Mobile Chain of Survival has been first presented during Resuscitation 2010 congress, which took place in Porto, Portugal. Doctor Ivor Kovic, founder of Ivor Medical, gave a lecture on this topic during the congress. Video of his lecture is now available online for viewing and it makes a great addition to reading our paper.

Kovic I, Lulic I. Mobile phone in the Chain of Survival. Resuscitation. 2011;82:776-9.
Ivor Kovic, MD – Mobile phone in the Chain of Survival video lecture

The new version of our CPR PRO mobile application is now available in the iTunes store. We are very excited about this update, which includes a lot of new features we dedicatedly worked on.

The first thing you will notice is the completely redesigned home screen, which now includes two new features. The first is an interactive guide to Basic Life Support, guiding you through all the steps of helping a person you have witnessed collapsing or that appears unconscious. Another completely new feature is the ability to call Emergency Medical Services directly from the app. Furthermore you will find a lot of new smaller improvements including: a new educational video demonstrating how to use an automated external defibrillator, faster metronome playing at 110 beats per minute, subtitles of voice commands in 30:2 CPR mode, and check patient prompt appearing every 2 minutes in PRO CPR mode.

The best med tech blog in the World, MedGadget, has just posted a special story about our CPR PRO line of products. Their article features an exclusively made video with our founder Dr. Ivor Kovic in which he demonstrates both the CPR PRO app and cradle. Medgadget is also giving away 20 promo codes to the fastest readers to download our CPR PRO app to their iPhones and iPod touches for free.

New features include: improved performance, compliance with 2010 CPR guidelines, new instructions for use, Basic Life Support and Recovery Position educational videos, recording of compression data, synchronization of compression data with a computer via iTunes or email.

Watch a short video from local TV station. You can also select English subtitles.

We will be there as well, and not just as passive participants. Our founder, Dr. Ivor Kovic, will present his scientific work together with his colleagues.

On Saturday, 4 December in room Miragaia between 11:00 – 12:30, Dr. Kovic will talk about mobile phones in the chain of survival. He will demonstrate some of the fascinating ways mobile phones can help us increase survival rates of sudden cardiac arrest. During the talk he will also mention his CPR invention which utilizes mobile phones to offer CPR prompts & feedback. All those interested in the subject will be able to see and test our CPR PRO Cradle and mobile app after the talk.

Dr. Kovic is also the coauthor of another paper which will be presented as a poster. Paper titled “Comparing methods for weight estimation of children” will be displayed in the Poster Room. The authors will be answering questions during the Poster Tour 22 on Friday, 3 December during lunch.

See you in Porto!

We are extremely happy to be able to report that our invention, CPR PRO Cradle, has been awarded yet another Gold Medal from the international jury. In fact, this is the forth gold medal awarded to us in a row. Our invention now holds first prizes from Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia and Germany.

If you find yourself somewhere near Nuremberg in Germany, visit us at the International Trade Fair iENA 2010. iENA is one of the biggest ideas, inventions and new products fairs in Europe featuring around 800 inventions from 37 countries. This year it takes place from 28th to 31st October in Exhibition Center Nuremberg, Hall 12.

Visit us at the Croatian booth each day from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, or from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday, and try out our CPR PRO cradle and mobile application on a realistic CPR manikin!