Advanced Paramedic Ltd. (APL) provides 24/7 air ambulance services for Canada’s Alberta Health Service. Working aboard specially outfitted fixed-wing aircraft, experienced paramedics care for critically ill patients during inter-hospital transport and/or for emergency care. The high-acuity planes serve as compact mobile ICUs or ERs, ensuring advanced medical care while in flight.

The team now conducts blood gas, electrolyte, and metabolite testing at the patient’s side with the handheld, wireless epoc® Blood Analysis System. Analysis of blood gases in particular plays a significant role in changing the course of ventilator therapy in flight: approximately 30 percent of the patients APL transports are intubated.

APL was experiencing issues with its current instruments related to temperature fluctuations and inventory management. Alberta’s winters can be brutal with temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures of +30. APL’s previous instruments were sensitive to temperature shifts, resulting in delayed sampling and temperature errors that prevented the systems from initializing. Moving to the epoc® Blood Analysis System removed this challenge thanks to its in-built temperature sensor that can mitigate delays in sampling as the user has a clear indication when the analyzer is not within operating temperature range. In addition, inventory control presented further challenges. Unlike APL’s previous instruments, the epoc employs a single bar-coded test card that does not require refrigeration, significantly reducing the burden of inventory management.

Read the full case study here.

“For sure, the epoc analyzer is much more user-friendly.”

“Eliminating the need for refrigerators and the space to accommodate them has led to substantial cost savings for APL.”

Brad Rideout
Team Lead, Advanced Paramedic Ltd. Grand Prairie Base, Peace River, Alberta.

For more information on the epoc and the new NXS Host (as pictured above), please reach our to Sarah Gamble, POC Business Line Manager: 1 905-638-8842 or [email protected]