Patient Safety In The Operating Room: Dräger Atlan®

Even though anaesthetic mortality has undoubtedly declined over the past decades, morbidity related to anaesthesia and the entire perioperative period remains significant. Anaesthetists are in a key position to take the lead in this respect. PD Dr.Sven Staender, head of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Hospital Männedorf, Switzerland and Dr. Friedrich, head of the simulation centre at Hannover University Hospital, shares their views on important ways in which anaesthesiologists can improve surgical safety for patients and how simulation can help. 

Atlan provides a system of safety features that instils confidence in caregivers by easing daily routines and helping to safeguard against unforeseen situations.

Safe operation – anytime

• An intuitive and standardised user interface means secure handling even under stress.
• Support tools lead to informed decision-making in complex situations.
• Hose mismatch control reduces chance of mix-up between inspiratory and expiratory connections.

Safe operation – anytime

• An automated self-test puts an end to lengthy and cumbersome self-test procedures and the pre-test checklist is enhanced with easy-to-understand illustrations.
• The self-test procedure complies with national anaesthesia society guidelines (e.g. AAGBI & DGAI)
• Ready to go when finished: the automatic self-test includes all relevant components.

Thorough preparation

• Backup Manual Mode provides a smart fallback level. Anaesthetists can switch on and take over manual control, anytime. 
• Continued ventilation even in case of flow sensor or gas supply failure.
• In case of power failure, smart energy management ensures maximum battery operation time.

Atlan incorporates a system of functionalities to protect every patient’s lungs from unintentional high tidal volumes, inspiratory pressures and other potentially harmful conditions. It protects the lungs at different levels and enables a comprehensive protective ventilation strategy.

ICU-like ventilation

• Protective ventilation can lead to fewer pulmonary complications and shorter hospital stays².
• Active PEEP maintains pressure during spontaneous inspiration and leakages.
• Excellent trigger sensitivity eases spontaneous breathing.
• Electronic piston ventilator delivers highly precise tidal volumes even for neonates
• Tidal volume application is independent from fresh gas flow (fresh gas coupling)

Safe low-flow anaesthesia

• Low fresh gas flows humidify and warm breathing gas to protect lungs.
• Econometer display provides visualisation of fresh gas flow efficiency.
• Active heating prevents rain-out and warms breathing gas.
• Leak-tight breathing system reduces gas losses to a minimum.
• Sample gas recirculation eliminates inbuilt leakage.

Background intelligence

• Background algorithms improve ventilation quality without user interaction.
• Expiratory resistance reduced during controlled breathing – automatically adapting the ventilator to patient exhalation.
• Automatic adaptation of system volume matches patient’s needs, resulting in a quick response to gas changes.
• Automatically-activated MAC-low alarm helps prevent unintended patient awareness.
• Comfortable and easy switch between vent modes with smart transfer of vent settings.

Computer-based, networked medical technology is becoming an integral part of overall clinical care. As a result, hospital networks are increasingly becoming targets of dangerous and damaging cyberattacks. To combat this, the Atlan anaesthesia workstation was designed with security in mind.

Cybersecurity best practices

• We strive to embed cybersecurity best practices deeply into our development processes.
• We established a dedicated cybersecurity team.
• We train development engineers in cybersecurity practices and secure coding.
• We maintain a list of security requirements for our products to develop secure architectures.

Comprehensive security testing

• Independent security experts conduct professional penetration tests.
• Internal security experts conduct vulnerability assessments and threat analyses where applicable.
• The product security team assesses emerging threats and publishes helpful advisories in a timely manner.
• Transparent product security information can support customer‘s risk management.
• Whitepapers summarising important security information are available for an increasing number of products.

Hardened system architecture

• Hardening our systems to help minimise the attack surface
• Consistent omission of unnecessary software components reduces exploitable vulnerabilities.
• While therapy functions are in use,many ports, e.g. service ports, are closed.
• Technical separation of functional and network components in therapy devices realised in an increasing number of products.

  
  

Breaking the chain of infection is an important step in preventing nosocomial infections. Each infected patient can cause additional costs of up to €17,500¹­­. Medical technology needs to support care providers in their goal of effectively reducing infection rates.

Built-in infection prevention

• Effective cleaning processes result in reprocessing friendly device components.
• Tool-free and quick disassembly of breathing systems increase compliance with hygiene standard operating procedures.
• Parts and materials are designed to be effectively cleaned and disinfected with existing reprocessing standards.
• Heated breathing system reduces rain-out and subsequent accumulation of fluid that may promote germ growth.

Our single-use consumables

• Our consumables help minimise the risk of infection.
• They are tested to ensure optimal performance of Dräger devices while preventing nosocomial infections.
• Pack2Go consumable packs support lean processes.

Tidy workplace design

• Easy-to-tidy anaesthesia workstations enable quick and effective cleaning.
• Cables can be easily stowed away to reduce area for germ growth.
• Smooth and rounded surface ease frequent cleaning/wipe-disinfection.
• Cleaning agent resistant materials ensure high durability.