Life Force Air Medical, Erlanger Health System’s air medical program, has a new tool onboard for caring for the most critically ill COVID-19 patients.
The ventilation therapy hood was first used in Italy to provide COVID-19 patients with a comfortable alternative to traditional ventilation therapy. The FDA recently granted emergency use of the hood for treating COVID patients.
Life Force is the first and only air medical program in Tennessee and one of only a handful of programs in the nation to use the non-invasive mechanical ventilation hood, Erlanger says.
Life Force began the process to place the helmet technology onboard each of its six helicopters in March.
This new ventilation system is more comfortable and easier for patients experiencing respiratory distress to tolerate, Erlanger says.
Like a helmet, the non-invasive hood fits over the patient’s head and creates an enclosed bubble for non-invasive positive pressure ventilation and provides a constant flow of oxygenated air, encapsulated completely within the enclosed hood.
This system also significantly reduces the chance of disease transmission, Erlanger adds.
All paramedics and nurses with Life Force have finished training on using the hood ventilation system and caring for patients wearing it.
It is now being used to treat COVID-19 patients as well as other patients with prolonged BiPAP, CPAP or failing BiPAP mask.
“Many COVID patients are at a point where they need aggressive airway management, which might include intubation,” says Robbie Tester, senior director of Erlanger’s Life Force. “This piece of equipment offers our patients a chance to avoid intubation and being placed on a ventilator.”
Source: Erlanger