Thanks to generous donors like you, Calgary Health Foundation was able to make two impactful donations to the air ambulance program. Three Hamilton T1 transport ventilators and a lung simulation mannequin were donated to ensure patients that require mechanical ventilation during transport from communities across Alberta to acute care sites, will receive the best care possible.
The equipment the team had prior to this donation was not at an industry level and the need for it grew especially during the pandemic when Intensive Care Units (ICUs) were experiencing overcrowding and capacity issues, requiring the air transport teams to move patients from one centre to another.
“We either want to maintain the care a patient is receiving or step it up, so they have safe transport and their care continues even when they’re between facilities,” said Darren Petty, a Clinical Educator with Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
The new ventilators which use a turbine motor to create flow instead of a gas powered one, allow transport teams the opportunity to ensure the ventilation of the patient is adequate, and as good as what’s offered in the ICU, during the time of transport.
Because of donations from the community, the new ventilators allow teams to manage the needs of patients, as well as create consistency and a standardization of equipment, ensuring the best care is available to Albertans.
It’s essential for air ambulances to be equipped with the best equipment, so when a patient requires transport from a ground ambulance to a fixed wing aircraft, there aren’t any interruptions in their oxygen source. As transports mean longer trips, it’s even more important that the environment a patient requires while in an ICU, can be replicated through transport. This has been made available through the new transport ventilators.
Ensuring teams have excellent training is another important piece of delivering optimal care, and through Calgary Health Foundation, a Laerdal 3G simulation mannequin and Ingmar ASL-5000 lung simulator were donated so clinicians can be up to date with the best technology available to prepare for real life scenarios.
“Medical simulation is a technology we use for providing education and assessing the transfer of knowledge for our teams. Simulation allows the learner to gain skills in the areas of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor care,” Darren explained.
The best training happens in clinical practice when people can go into an ICU and work with a respiratory therapist, but with staffing issues and time constraints, getting to a clinical site for training can be challenging. A simulated environment can help train people to 95% of what an actual event would look like, which is a huge benefit to having this technology.
The mannequin is very realistic, creating a living, breathing patient through a machine. It can create different resistance and compliance scenarios, and can go from having a neonatal type lung all the way to someone with pneumonia. Any lung physiology can be recreated with this machine.
Being able to support ongoing learning is essential to keep the skills of staff at optimal performance.
“It’s all about a consistent, repeatable experience for the patient. It shouldn’t matter who shows up at the bedside, what matters is the way the care gets delivered. Through a consistent training program and application of simulation, we’re able to ensure that patients receive the same high level of care regardless of where they are.”
The impact these donations (the ventilators and simulation mannequin), have had are significant for both the patients being taken care of and the people that are delivering the care. Staff morale has increased because they know they’re using the best equipment that’s available and receiving the most effective training, allowing staff to provide the highest level of care.
Fixed wing transport can often go unrecognized in the province when people think about EMS. With Alberta being such a large province, there’s a lot of geography to cover between acute care sites, so having donors ensuring they are equipped with the best equipment and training resources, means a lot to Darren and his team.
