Effect of Angulus on Patient-elevation Compliance

Ventilator-associated events (VAE) are a scourge of critical care settings and hospital systems at large. There is extensive evidence that ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and related VAEs increase mortality rates in critically ill patients by up to 50%, while simultaneously increasing cost of care. C Best-practice guidelines state that positioning ventilated patients at an angle between 30-45 degrees significantly reduces the potential for VAP and other VAE to develop. While the intent of the guidelines is to govern patient elevation angle, the lack of a mechanism to accurately measure patient elevation requires that nurses rely on the head-of-bed (HOB) protractor - a tool which reflects the angle of the bed, not the patient - to measure compliance. Depending upon the position and posture of the patient in the bed, a patient's elevation angle may be significantly different from the HOB angle. Critical care teams currently rely on built-in HOB protractors and digital inclinometers that measure the angle of the bed not the patient. Angulus, LLC has developed a dual-component Angulus sensor to fill this gap in critical care technology. Angulus enables critical care practitioners to instantaneously understand a patient's elevation, identify when the patient is outside of the desired 30-45 degree recumbency scope, and efficiently correct the patient's orientation with immediate feedback. Angulus supports real-time minute-to-minute data display as well as longitudinal aggregation of data.