BLOG: Smart Injector Technology Delivers Effective and Efficient Patient Care

技术进步正在改变消费者的期望，推动行业适应和发展，医疗保健行业也不例外。医疗保健提供商正在积极利用新技术，探索独特的方式来提供更有效的护理。

Enhancing patient care is a key priority forHonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center, a 204-bed, full-service hospital offering extensive inpatient and outpatient general surgery and cardiac surgery and care to communities in the greater Phoenix area.

For more than five years, Deer Valley has used theEmpower CTA+ Injector SystemfromBracco Diagnostics. Thesmart injector technologyis designed for the vascular administration of contrast and flushing media in conjunction with computed tomography (CT) scanning of the body. Deer Valley relies on the efficiency of the Empower CTA+ system to enhance patient care while optimizing imaging capabilities, streamlining workflows and improving efficiencies.

“The Empower CTA+ system is a sturdy piece of equipment. I think it is one of the most reliable injectors I have ever used. I call it Old Faithful,” said Chip Garrett, RTRDT, senior staff technologist at HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center.

According to Garrett, the system is very easy to use with a clearly numbered screen layout. “It is very intuitive and gives me full injection control. It is labeled clearly and is very versatile and easy to set up. You press protocol and protocol comes up.”

The system automatically fills syringes to volumes based on the selected protocol and allows for easy customizing, naming and storing specific protocols (up to 100 total).

“With this system, you can optimize protocols for specific exams. I like the fact that you can customize it, and it is easy to customize,” Garrett said. “You can build the protocols into the injector and title them whatever you want. So, if you are doing a pulmonary angiogram, you can build a protocol and title it, Pulmonary Angiogram.”

该系统的各种功能和广泛的安全增强包括在患者一侧的数字触摸屏;集成和直观的语音提示，提供有价值的信息;协议选择与管理系统;自动清洗，清洗注射器中的空气，提高安全性;Proto填充，自动填充注射器与程序设定的体积对比剂和生理盐水;内置倾斜传感器和锁定，帮助降低空气栓塞对患者的风险;以及按需生理盐水提前功能，有助于确定通畅和静脉完整性。

One unique feature is asaline jumpwhich gives the system the ability to shut down the contrast injection and push saline, minimizing the contrast dose. This also eliminates the need to manually flush the patient IV to clear out the contrast.

According to Garrett, the Empower CTA+ Injector System saline jump is very useful in pulmonary angiograms where the technologist has to scan fast while using as little contrast as possible.

“When I am scanning and I see that the pulmonary artery is already highlighted, I can stop the contrast and jump right over to saline. Thissaves the patient contrast, which can be a little hard on the kidneys. You have such a narrow window of opportunity, which is variable from patient to patient, so the ability to just jump over to saline after you see the pulmonary artery highlight is a great feature,” he explained.

Another benefit of thesaline jumpis that it gives the technologist flexibility and improves efficiency. “Let’s say that the injector was preloaded for a larger patient, but a smaller patient was ready first, you can proceed to give that patient a smaller amount of contrast and then jump to saline without having to reload the injector.”

Finally, when it comes to delivering effective and efficient healthcare, reliability is one of the most critical features for any device used in a busy hospital imaging department. System downtime can diminish responsiveness to patients, cause significant operational delays across the organization and interruptions in the delivery of patient care.

Editor’s note:This blog is the first in a series on injector systems.