Draeger PulmoVista 500

Breath is life, and when patients are having trouble breathing, ventilators are a lifeline.

For ventilated patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), getting the settings right on the ventilator is crucial to their recovery.

The Draeger PulmoVista 500 helps staff monitor patients’ breathing, and has the potential to reduce and possibly even eliminate preventable harm that can come from incorrect ventilator settings.

The device produces real-time, breath-by-breath images of the patient's lungs. An electrode belt goes around the patient’s chest, helping healthcare providers understand what’s happening, non-invasively and without radiation. There’s no pain or discomfort for the patient when it’s used.

Give the gift of breath!

When staff can directly visualize air movement in the patient’s lungs, it removes “trial and error” techniques for ventilator settings, and allows them to optimize the settings in minutes instead of hours to days -- which can be critical when dealing with someone who is acutely ill.

This leading edge technology is only being used at a few sites in Canada, so bringing it to St. Paul’s Hospital will make the Hospital a leader in respiratory care.

Having this device available will improve patient outcomes, and even has the potential to decrease the number of days a patient stays on a ventilator in the ICU.

Tried, tested, and true

During a trial at St. Paul’s Hospital in 2015, the PulmoVista may have saved a patient from harm: The patient was on high ventilator settings which could have potentially caused lung injury, but using the PulmoVista, staff saw that they needed to decrease the settings.

In addition, patients in that trial reported feeling more comfortable with the settings provided after using the device.

We need your help to make this device available to our patients.

Donate online now, or for more information contact Aubree Worobetz, Major Gifts Officer at 306-655-5829 or email Aubree.Worobetz@sphfoundation.org