Sutter Health, a nonprofit integrated health system based in Northern California, is implementing a wireless, wearable Doppler ultrasound device called FloPatch that gives ICU clinicians a fast, hands-free method of assessing blood-flow at the bedside to help guide cardiopulmonary resuscitation and fluid management in critically ill patients.
Determining how much or how little intravenous (IV) fluid to give a patient is one of the most urgent, complicated and error-prone interventions in critical care. The goal with FloPatch is to provide a simple, fast and consistent method for measuring changes in blood flow and heart function related to IV fluid volume. By facilitating greater precision in IV fluid management, Sutter is expecting FloPatch to improve care for critically ill patients, including those with septic shock, which is the leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals.
The company behind the innovation is Flosonics Medical, a Canadian medical device company engaged in the research and development of ultrasound technology.
Placed on a patient’s neck, the FloPatch continuously assesses blood flow in the carotid arteries, which provides a window into the left ventricle. FloPatch then wirelessly transmits that data to a secure iOS mobile application, providing clinicians with actionable, real-time data at the bedside.
Sutter Health will deploy FloPatch this summer in two Bay Area medical centers (at a total of four ICUs): first at Sutter’s Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Calif., and then at Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco at CPMC Van Ness, Davies and Mission Bernal campuses.
“Sepsis, hypotension/shock and renal failure are common clinical problems in the emergency department and ICU. FloPatch can make a large impact on patient care by allowing goal-directed care, which will prevent potentially harmful interventions and, in some cases, may avoid the need for ICU-level care,” said Kristina Kury, M.D., medical director of Critical Care at Sutter’s Eden Medical Center, in a statement. “I believe this technology will provide more precise, actionable data that will allow us to optimize patient care, decrease complications and decrease length of stay for many of our patients.”
“Based on our early experience using FloPatch, we believe it will be as effective in managing the care of ICU patients with congestive heart failure and other shock conditions as with sepsis,” said George S. Horng, M.D., medical director of Critical Care at Sutter’s CPMC, in a statement. “This is a non-invasive breakthrough that will lead to better health outcomes for our patients.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Sutter Health to make this pioneering ultrasound technology available to their clinicians,” said Joe Eibl, Ph.D., CEO of Flosonics Medical, in a statement. “FloPatch is a new paradigm linking physiology and resuscitation medicine. We believe it can revolutionize treatment for critical care patients by bringing much-needed insight to the most complex and urgent medical scenarios.”
