Non-Invasive CO monitoring

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Is anyone using USCOM yet?

http://www.uscom.com.au/

I am embarrassed to say that this was invented in my own home town and we have not got one yet:imbar:

Had a talk from the rep yesterday and it sound SOOOOOOO wonderful. You don't even need CVC line - just hold the doppler on the sternal notch plug in the patients height and BINGO CO values!! The rep was doing it on himself in front of us and all I could think of was "No more Swannie's:p" (Do I hear refrains of "Swann-G how I hate you, how I hate you my rotten Swann-G":chuckle)

No really we rarely have S-G caths so when we DO get them it is twice the trauma. This looks ideal - they have sold more than a few to A&E (ED) departments because of the rapidity of the measurement (under 1 minute).

They said they have sold a few overseas and I was wondering if anyone is using them yet and are they as wonderful as the company claims?

[millkay]

Wow- in a word. What technology can't come up with. I have used a Bio-Z impedence cardiography for non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring so it's no suprise that they can derive so many parameters without use of a S-G, but this new USCOM does it one-up. Now USCOM uses only a doppler, gives much better readouts & weighs much less. Also it should be mentioned that the S-G cannot give thoracic cavity volume readings, which often are great with chronic CHF population. Thanks for the link to the site. I love learning about new technological advances, especially for the improvement of patient safety. And like many others of you, I like new toys. I do hope to see one in use somewhere soon!