Welcome to the Respiratory Huddle

One of the most important physiological tasks living organisms do is breathing.  The inhalation and exhalation are known as the respiratory cycle. Respiration rate is an important indicator of a patient's health. Recent evidence suggests an average adult respiratory rate is 20 breaths per minute; however, this changes when a patient is sick or critically ill.

As we near the end of the year, I think that it is safe to say we will never forget the year that is 2020. The year starting off as normal, nobody predicted that we would be spending so much time on zoom. A global pandemic was nowhere on the list of likely global risks that CEOs worried about. Among the loss we have experienced this year, of family members, friends and personal plans, we have united in our ambition to stay safe and stay at home. Together, we’ve protected each other. 

This year, the challenge to healthcare providers across the globe is to deliver better outcomes to every patient. When COVID-19 caused a worldwide pandemic, the team at PMD Solutions sprung to action. 

Numerous hospitals adopted RespiraSense in the battle against COVID-19. COVID-19 infection manifests as an acute respiratory infection, with respiratory distress being an early indicator of severity. 

Accurately monitoring a patient’s respiratory rate allows medical professionals in Cork and Dublin to understand their condition. During the COVID-19 crisis, medical professionals are continuously challenged by their patients’ needs and the high workload. In this demanding environment, changing from the manual recording of respiratory rate to continuously monitoring respiratory rates has significantly impacted patients’ management. 

The main advantage when interacting with patients with Coronavirus for healthcare providers using RespiraSense is that they have an earlier warning of a patient’s deterioration and can appropriately monitor the breathing of multiple COVID-19 patients by telemetry without the need for additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). RespiraSense enables continuous Respiratory Rate Monitoring, which can remotely monitor the breathing of multiple patients simultaneously. 

Having appropriate contact with patients is essential to keeping healthcare workers safe, and the patients benefiting from their respiratory rate being continually monitored. If the patient’s breathing rate goes above a determined threshold, an alarm alerts care staff of the need to attend to the patient.

Respiratory rate (RR) is an important vital sign, but difficult to measure. Even though it is often measured poorly  (in one of our studies we found it was most often 18, 20, or 22 breaths per minute (bpm) and never 17, 19, or 21 bpm) it is still a powerful predictor of outcome and can improve patient safety. This may be because the RR is never counted at all, and is actually a surrogate “nurse worried score” in which a rate of 18 bpm is awarded to patients no one is concerned about, 20 bpm when there is a slight concern, and 22 bpm when there is a major concern? Despite the above, studies on manually recorded rates have shown they predict outcome earlier than changes in other vital signs and may be particularly useful in identifying deterioration in the acutely ill, respiratory failure, COPD, early sepsis, cancer patients, etc. There is, therefore, no doubt that a cheap convenient device that accurately measured RR would be extremely useful and is badly needed (Respiratory rate monitor).

We have designed a wireless, discreet, continuous respiratory rate monitor that eliminates subjectivity from Respiratory Rate monitoring and displays this information on a user-friendly platform in a format that is easy to interpret.

Patients don’t suddenly deteriorate, there are always signs. With the advent of value-based care where outcomes drive reimbursement more than the simple delivery of a procedure, the healthcare sector is now acutely focused on innovations that trigger the right care for the right patient at the right time. This is no truer than for patients in hospital who suffer cardiac arrests, respiratory failures, or septic shock. There are always signs and one of those signs has been underutilized until now; Respiratory Rate.

PMD Solutions Ltd, in partnership with Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, is undertaking a space-enabled medical solution “CORONA-RS” - to scale community monitoring of respiratory compromised patients in the community due to Covid-19 and other respiratory compromised patient cohorts. 

Ms Sandy Rolfe (Respiratory Nurse Specialist, NHS Tayside) recently wrote for the British Journal of Nursing about ‘The importance of respiratory rate monitoring.’ This is the process undertaken by clinical staff of manually counting a patients’ breaths for one minute and recording that figure in the patients’ notes, along with their other vital signs. Rolfe highlights the reasons why respiratory monitoring is so important, how it can sometimes fall foul of inaccuracy and how it could be improved.

THE BREATHING OF 40 COVID-19 PATIENTS IN BEAUMONT HOSPITAL IN DUBLIN IS BEING CONTINUOUSLY, REMOTELY MONITORED WITH RESPIRASENSE.

Now more than ever, healthcare providers around the world are being called upon to help bring better outcomes to every patient. Since 2011, PMD Solutions have been developing a solution: RespiraSense – a Continuous Respiratory Rate Monitor which can remotely monitor the breathing of multiple patients, simultaneously. RespiraSense has an error rate of just plus or minus one breath and is also the first device that can monitor breathing remotely.

One of the main advantages when interacting with patients with Coronavirus  for healthcare providers using RespiraSense is that they don’t have to keep donning Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to monitor the breathing of COVID-19 patients.

Two RespiraSense™ Clinical Research Posters, on the efficacy of respiratory rate monitoring, developed in collaboration with our centre of excellence will be on show in Belfast on Thursday, 24th and Friday, 25th January as part of the BOMMS Scientific Meeting.