Sutter Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern California, and Flosonics Medical have announced the expansion of deployment of the FloPatch device, a wireless wearable Doppler ultrasound technology. This initiative aims to enhance intravenous (IV) fluid management across multiple hospital sites, particularly for patients with sepsis.
The deployment of FloPatch will take place at several Sutter facilities, including the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland and the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital in Sonoma County. The implementation will cover various departments, such as the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Medical-Surgical Unit, and Telemetry Unit.
With this expansion, a total of six Sutter hospital campuses have integrated FloPatch over the past year, joining Sutter’s Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley and Sutter’s CPMC in San Francisco, which includes the Van Ness, Davies, and Mission Bernal Campuses.
Fluid overload is a prevalent issue in emergency and intensive care environments, primarily due to the complexities involved in predicting patient responses to IV fluids. Individual patient needs can fluctuate significantly, especially during critical illness. Research indicates that nearly one-third of patients with sepsis and septic shock are fluid unresponsive. Without timely identification of this condition, patients may receive excessive fluids, which can lead to severe complications such as pulmonary edema.
FloPatch is an FDA-cleared device that offers clinicians a rapid and non-invasive method for conducting hemodynamic assessments. It measures a patient’s heart and blood flow responses to IV fluids, facilitating personalised fluid therapy. Clinical studies have demonstrated that dynamic fluid assessments can reduce the necessity for mechanical ventilation and renal replacement therapy, decrease the length of stay in intensive care units, and are associated with lower mortality rates.
Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital ICU medical director Dr Nader Emami said: “Our previous method of assessing fluid responsiveness was cumbersome and time-consuming. We often had to pull ICU nurses to perform evaluations in other units, which was disruptive and inefficient.
“FloPatch streamlines the process with a simple, wearable device that empowers any member of the care team to perform this essential assessment faster and easier.”
