Author: Susan Petersen

To meet the needs of different users, we provide calibrated and standard versions of the QuickLung and QuickLung Jr. For training applications, calibration is not necessary and even for testing applications, calibration is not always required.

However, if you are performing formal testing and validation, you may need a calibration certificate to show measurement traceability. The requirements for quality protocols related to calibration and accuracy typically come from your organization or from the manufacturer of the device under test.

QuickLung calibration is conducted using an ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator which has traceability to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) via A2LA showing the “unbroken chain” of traceability to the International System of Units (SI). The Calibrated QuickLung includes a calibration certificate with a stated level of accuracy for both resistance and compliance settings while the standard QuickLung does not include such a certificate. That stated accuracy for the Calibrated QuickLung is +/- 10% for Compliance and +/- 20% for Resistance. We recommend recalibration on a yearly basis.

The standard QuickLung accuracy is approximately +/- 20% for compliance, and for this configuration, the accuracy of the resistance is not validated or specified.

Please note that the standard QuickLung cannot be calibrated after purchase. This is because the resistance orifices are calibrated before assembly of the QuickLung. Once it is assembled, we cannot do the testing required for calibration.

If we can learn more about your application/requirements, we can work with you to be sure we match you with the right solution. Call us at 412.441.8228 or complete the form below to get started.

We are pleased to announce that the  ASL 5000 Lung Solution  will soon be compatible with Laerdal’s new SimBaby. This will enable you to use the new SimBaby to conduct advanced ventilator management training in anesthesia, critical care, emergency medicine, pulmonology, and respiratory care.

With the ASL 5000 Lung Solution, SimBaby can breathe spontaneously while being ventilated and hold PEEP at any clinically relevant level. You can use any ventilator and any ventilator mode, including NIV. Resistance and compliance are minutely adjustable, allowing you to simulate a vast number of patient disease states. This will allow you to teach mechanical ventilation topics such as:

• Managing IRDS and RSV
• Adjusting the ventilator in response to a change in patient condition
• Identifying and resolving patient-ventilator dysynchronies

Developed in collaboration with Laerdal, the popular ASL 5000 Lung Solution is currently compatible with SimMan®, SimMan 3G Trauma, SimMan Essential, and SimMan Essential Bleeding.

Opt-in below to receive updates on the development of SimBaby at IngMar Medical.

SimMan® is a registered trademark of Laerdal.

More realistic device testing in the lab can save valuable time on clinical trials. A research team at Virginia Commonwealth University’ s School of Pharmacy led by Peter Byron and Michael Hindle is using realistic mouth, throat, and airway models, coupled with the realistic breathing profiles of the ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator to investigate the relationship between in vitro experimental aerosol drug deposition and in vivo drug deposition behavior in patients. Read the full story.

Patient-ventilator synchrony is a key concern in respiratory care. With sponsorship from IngMar Medical, Pulmonary Critical Care Specialist Eric Kriner will demonstrate how to identify and resolve asynchrony during several workshops at regional and state respiratory conferences over the next eight months.

“The problem of patient-ventilator asynchrony is complex. The ability to recognize the problem requires a strong knowledge of ventilator waveforms. The ability to fix the problem requires a strong knowledge of how every set parameter controls each portion of the respiratory cycle.”

Eric Kriner BS, RRT; Pulmonary Critical Care Specialist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

Kriner uses IngMar Medical’s ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator to create the patient waveforms he uses to teach recognition and correction of patient-ventilation asynchrony.

Click here for information on how to simulate a patient-ventilator asynchrony using the ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator.
Click here to view a short webinar on patient-ventilator dysynchrony.

You can catch one of Kriner’s workshops at the following conferences:

• March 2-3 @ Oregon SRC Pacific Northwest Respiratory Care Conference
• April 17-19 @ Washington SRC Pacific Northwest Regional Respiratory Care Conference
• April 21-22 @ Iowa Lung Conference
• May 4-6 @ Colorado SRC State Conference
• Sept 6-9 @ South Carolina SRC State Conference

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Eric Kriner

Eric Kriner (BS, RRT) is a pulmonary critical care specialist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

At Medstar, Eric oversees the management of all mechanically ventilated patients; sits on numerous hospital-wide committees (ECMO, organ donation, emergency airway); and is responsible for the clinical practice and policy of the Respiratory Care Department.

He is also responsible for the educational advancement of the respiratory care staff, nursing, physician assistants, use practitioners, as well as the resident and fellow physician staff. In that capacity, Eric wrote and implemented a live lecture and simulation-based curriculum for Advanced Mechanical Ventilation consisting of 39 hours of lecture and over 40 mechanical ventilation and critical care clinical simulations. This program is now used in part by the Pulmonary Services Department, Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship, Medical Resident and Emergency Medicine programs.

In 2015, Eric presented at 14 state conferences on the topic of patient-ventilator dysynchrony. Several of the conference presentations were mechanical ventilation clinical simulation workshops. He is also on faculty for the Mid-Atlantic Pulmonary Critical Care Fellows Education collaborative, lecturing on patient-ventilator dysynchrony, mechanical ventilation in ARDS and APRV, High Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation, non-invasive ventilation, and oxygenation support using high flow nasal oxygen. As faculty, he also writes and precepts dozens of mechanical ventilation clinical simulations.

In 2012 Kriner was awarded the Acute Care Specialty Practitioner of the Year by the American Association for Respiratory Care. Previously Eric served as Director of Clinical Education for the Respiratory Therapy program at prince George’s Community College. He continues to serve there as the chair of the Respiratory Therapy Medical and Curriculum Advisory Committee. Eric holds a BS in Respiratory Therapy from Salisbury University.

The lack of standardized nomenclature for ventilator modes complicates clinical care and puts patients at risk. One popular textbook lists 298 mode names on 36 ventilators in the US alone. There is a great deal of confusion around these many names. Sometimes different ventilator manufacturers use different names for the same mode, but sometimes the same mode name can mean different things on different ventilators – and patients respond differently. Advanced ICU ventilators have features which can actually transform a mode into a different mode completely, without a change in the name to mark the transition.

Thus memorizing a list of mode names and parameters is not enough. Clinicians must understand the principles behind the names. Until now, there has been no standardized training program that would help clinicians understand and properly use all modes of ventilation.

Robert Chatburn et al. have created a “Taxonomy for Mechanical Ventilation: Ten Fundamental Maxims” as a tool to develop the ability to identify, classify, and compare all modes of ventilation. This system been adopted by two leading general respiratory care textbooks and has passed many peer reviews in medical journals.

IngMar Medical will soon be releasing Taxonomy for Mechanical Ventilation Curriculum Modules to teach these ten  maxims through hands-on skills practice with the ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator and a ventilator.  The hands-on skill practice not only helps connect knowledge and psychomotor skills, it also provides an experience closer to the situation the clinician will experience when they need to apply their skills. Learners can experiment with different ventilator settings without putting patients at risk.

Transitioning a patient from an ICU ventilator to a portable home care ventilator can be a challenging process involving between 24 and 96 hours of trial and error at the bedside. Respiratory therapists at Akron Children’s Hospital have improved this transition by using “real-patient” simulation. The process involves downloading information from the patient’s ICU ventilator to the ASL 5000 Breathing Simulator to create a model of the pulmonary characteristics of the individual child. The respiratory therapist can then experiment with the simulated patient to determine the ventilator and the settings which optimize the patient/ventilator interaction.

The “real-patient” simulation process takes a few hours working with the ASL 5000 followed by approximately an hour tweaking ventilator settings at the bedside. Read the full story.