Members of the Star Lake Women’s Institute recently donated a Continuous Ambulatory Delivery Device (CADD) to the acute and emergency unit of the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital on Sept. 20.
“This device allows for medications to be delivered over extended periods of time; we use these for antibiotics, pain medication, and for chemo,” said Melissa Forsyth, program lead at the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hosptial.
“They’re used in the hospital as well as out in the community and they’re very useful.”
The device comes at a cost of $3,200 and is the second CADD donated to the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hosptial.
https://www.clearwatertimes.com/news/dr-helmcken-memorial-hospital-gets-new-equipment/
The CADD is roughly the size of a cell phone and is attached to the patient with pump settings controlled by the health care team to prevent an overdose.
Security features include varying lockout functions, so the care provider can make sure the patient doesn’t accidentally change the programming or deliver too much medication, and there are also alarm features that sound when the batteries get low, if there’s a bubble in the tubing, or if the medication bag is getting low.
“You can set parameters—demand versus deliver—so you can demand 50 times, but in that 50 times you might only get five (doses),” said Forsyth.
“Then we look at that demand versus deliver to see if the patient is having a lot more pain, or are they accidentally hitting the wrong button, and if they’re having more pain, we can increase the infusion to help them more.”
Other benefits of the CADD include the fact it can stay attached to the patient for up to a week, saving the need for multiple needle shots, which can be painful and it also allows patients to spend more of their care at home with family, rather than in a hospital bed.
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