The MGH Dept. of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine’s program on Medical Device Interoperability & Cybersecurity (MD PnP) presented a Scientific & Educational Exhibit ( S1) at Anesthesiology 2023.
Anesthesiology 2023 is the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists which was held this year in San Francisco October 14-16, 2023.
Our Exhibit demonstrated “Remote Control of Ventilators and IV Pumps: An Emerging Capability with Widespread Clinical Care Implications” as well as a system for automated Total IV Anesthesia (TIVA). These research initiatives fall within our Center for Smart and Autonomous Medical Systems (SaAMS).
We demonstrated Local and Far (internet) Remote Control of an NKV 550 Critical Care Ventilator using a DocBox ICE platform. Participants controlled a ventilator located in our MGH lab in Cambridge, Mass from the exhibit in San Francisco.
We also demonstrated a single “Common UI” that remotely controlled 3 brands of IV infusion pumps using OpenICE (open-source ICE software).
Finally, we demonstrated closed-loop TIVA using the EasyTIVA expert system connected to a simulated BIS processed EEG monitor, a physical controllable IV pump, and a softwareIV pump – all part of a hardware-in-the-loop SaAMS research testbed.
Exhibit Overview:
EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION
Under the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency the FDA accelerated innovation by permitting manufacturers to release remote control for ventilators and IV pumps with less regulatory scrutiny. This enabled industry and healthcare organizations to demonstrate that remote control could improve care and protect caregivers by changing device settings without a delay to don PPE, support virtual critical care, and synchronize respiration with radiologic imaging. This technology has broad implications for OR, NORA, ICU and tele-ICU care. Post-pandemic standards and regulatory pathways are under development. This exhibit will demonstrate examples of remote control and research being performed to address safety and interoperability.
EXHIBIT PURPOSE:
This SEE demonstrates several remote control approaches for IV pumps and ventilators, as well as associated safety and interoperability considerations, to educate ASA membership on a rapidly developing area of device innovation that could provide broad clinical workflow and patient care benefits in OR, ICU, tele-ICU, and other care settings.
