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Low-flow capabilities
The software that runs anesthesia machines can also help rein in case
costs through low-flow anesthesia delivery features. While every system
lets its users reduce the amount of gas they deliver, electronic flowmeters, vol-
ume wizards and other software tools alert providers to minimal flow options,
while offering more efficiency, accuracy and decision support than mechanical
controls do.
"It's fair to say that many anesthesia providers use a higher fresh gas flow
than is strictly necessary," says Brad Bonnette, a project officer in the Health
Devices Group at the ECRI Institute, a Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based non-profit
technology research firm. "And there are good reasons not to use a lot more
than you need." Besides the fact that anesthetic agents are expensive, he says,
moderating the amount of gas that patients receive also has recovery and sus-
tainability benefits.
Dry inhalational gases
need to be humidified,
and at high flows, the
water vapor steals body
heat as it is exhaled. Low
flow anesthesia, on the
other hand, feels warmer.
As a result, it assists in
maintaining patient nor-
mothermia, which speeds
recoveries and helps pre-
vent SSIs, especially dur-
ing and after longer sur-
geries. In addition, excess
anesthesia ends up
