A Multi-Faceted Analysis of Using the UPAC Vaporizer With the Hamilton-T1 Transport Ventilator: Oxygen Enrichment, Push- and Pull-Through Operation, and Ventilator Contamination With Isoflurane Vapor.

STATISTICS; RESEARCH; ANESTHESIA; ANALYSIS of variance; MEDICAL equipment contamination; RESEARCH methodology; TRANSPORTATION of patients; NEBULIZERS & vaporizers; ARTIFICIAL respiration; T-test (Statistics); PEARSON correlation (Statistics); COMPARATIVE studies; OXYGEN therapy; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; STATISTICAL hypothesis testing; WOUNDS & injuries; DATA analysis software; DATA analysis; STATISTICAL correlation; ISOFLURANE; MEDICAL equipment

Trauma anesthesia care can be among the most challenging situations anesthesia providers may encounter. The challenges encountered are helped by providing anesthesia providers on forward-deployed surgical teams with the best equipment available that meets the limitations of light weight, easily movable, and not reliant on electrical supply. This study assesses three questions derived out of the recent formation and equipping of the U.S. Army's Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachment. The highly advanced field transport ventilator, the Hamilton-T1 is being used by the detachments' anesthetists with the Universal Portable Anesthesia, Complete (UPAC) draw-over vaporizer. However, no literature supports best use practices regarding use in a push- or pull-through configuration, adding supplemental oxygen, and the impact on the ventilator from contamination with inhaled anesthetics. Utilizing a human patient simulator, these questions were examined in a quasiexperimental and descriptive manner, using the Hamilton-T1 and UPAC vaporizer in multiple configurations. The findings support the efficacy of both push- and pull-through configurations, offer options for the most efficacious use of oxygen, and appear to show no adverse effects from anesthetic vapor entering the ventilator's compression mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]