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The VitaHEAT UB3 keeps 95.9% of patients normothermic in newly published study

December 20, 2017 By VITAHEAT MEDICAL®

Conductive Skin Warming and Hypothermia: An Observational Study

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Victoria M. Steelman, PhD, RN, CNOR, FAAN
Ann G. Schaapveld, BSN, RN
Yelena Perkhounkova, PhD
Jennifer L. Reeve, MSN, RN
John P. Herring, MD

Most surgical patients receiving regional or general anesthesia experience perioperative hypothermia unless effective preventive measures are used. Patient positioning poses a challenge for clinicians using existing technology. The purpose of this study is to describe outcomes of hypothermia after a combination of preoperative and intraoperative conductive skin warming (CSW). This retrospective observational study included 972 adult surgical patients receiving general or neuraxial anesthesia. Clinicians were provided an alternative for perioperative warming, an underbody conductive warming mattress using resistive ink technology (VitaHEAT UB3, VitaHEAT Medical), or the option to use current practice, forcedair warming (FAW). The primary study endpoint was temperature on arrival in the postanesthesia care unit.

Active warming was provided preoperatively with CSW (81.5%) or FAW (0.6%) and intraoperatively with CSW (61.1%), FAW (21.8%), or both (12.1%). Hypothermia occurred in 3.5% of patients overall and in 16.7% of patients when active warming was not used. When CSW was used preoperatively and intraoperatively, 4.1% of patients became hypothermic. When CSW was used preoperatively and FAW was used intraoperatively, 2.3% of patients became hypothermic. When clinicians used active warming methods based on individual patient needs, nearly all patients (96.5%) remained normothermic.

Keywords: Anesthesia, body temperature, hypothermia, intraoperative complication, perioperative care.

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Filed Under: News

ABOUT VitaHEAT Medical

VitaHEAT Medical® is a medical device company committed to providing superior solutions for warming patients in a variety of clinical settings. The advent of new technologies, including conductive inks, lithium batteries and cost effective miniaturized electronic componentry has allowed VitaHEAT Medical’s® research team to design and produce the next generation in patient warming solutions.

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Phone: 800-850-8350

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Dean Weiland, Board Member

Retired Director President & CEO – Cogent Healthcare
Brentwood, Tennessee
Director – The Work Institute; Previous Director, Executive Vice President & COO – Renal Advantage

Gene Steffes, Board Member

Executive Vice President – FSICI
Western Regional President – U.S. Foods
Seattle, WA and Scottsdale, AZ
Board Member – FSICI in Colorado Springs, CO

Greg O’Brien, Board Member

Retired Owner – Associated Mechanical Inc.
Peoria, IL

William S. Haas, Board Member

Retired Founder and Inventor – Thinheat Solutions, LLC
Peoria, IL

Steve Adams, Board Member

Senior Distinguished Fellow – University of St. Thomas School of Law
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Chairman of the Board Lutheran – Social Services Foundation of Minnesota

Jim Gaffney, Board Member

Former Vice-President – Accretive Health
Chicago, IL

Peter Farmakis, President and CEO

VitaHeat Medical, LLC
Former Senior Director – Abbott Laboratories
Board Member – Healthcare Industry Supply Chain Institute

John Ducharme, Secretary

President- Patient Financial
EVP- PatientMatters
SVP Accretive Health/R1 RCM
Director Baxter

Victor Orler, Vice Chairman

Board Chairman – Presence Health
Retired Partner – Accenture
Chicago, IL
Board Member – Johnson Logistics; Former Board Member – Directed Electronics DEI Holdings; Former Board Member – MEI Inc.

Steve Smith, Chairman of the Board

Founder – Accretive Health
Senior Vice President – Revenue Cycle Solutions
Vice President – Healthcare Consulting, Midwest Support Services Group, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
Chicago, IL
Treasurer – Friends of Nathan Foundation; Member of the Board – Friendship Senior Options; Member – Who’s Who Worldwide; Distinguished Alumnus – The Ohio State University; Governing Member – Chicago Symphony

David Mezera, Vice President of Sales

David Mezera is the Vice President of Sales within VitaHEAT Medical®. He is responsible for generating sales and building a sales organization. David joins the leadership team in preparing our company for success through developing a strategic plan and building a successful sales team who can follow through in efforts to help clients achieve normothermia in their patients.

David came to VitaHEAT Medical with an extensive sales background from big corporations to multiple startups in medical devices. He worked in the electronics industry before moving to the medical device world. For the past 10 years, David has been working with large hospitals, healthcare systems, and GPOs as Director of Sales for RF Surgical. He increased sales to more than $50 million, which helped set up the sale of the company for $235 Million.

David earned a degree in electrical engineering from State University of New York, New Paltz. He is an avid cyclist and has been racing on the national level for years. David lives in Houston, Texas.

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Michael P. Kohler, Vice President of Sales – East

Michael Kohler joined VitaHEAT Medical® in 2015 as Vice President of Sales – East Region and has transitioned to a Key Accounts role. His key responsibilities are driving the commercial sales plan for the top IDNs across the country. Mike works alongside the local account managers to generating leads, develop them into sales opportunities, and conducting trials where appropriate to actively place the VitaHEAT patient warming system in the top IDNs.

Michael brings many years of experience as a commercial leader from his previous employers, which include Abbott Laboratories and IBM. He previously held positions of Director of Sales, National Sales Manager, Region Manager, District Manager, IDN National Accounts Manager and National Sales Trainer in the healthcare sector. His sales management experience includes capital equipment, multiyear pricing agreements, and service contracts in commercial and government customer accounts for the hospital, physician office, and sub-acute markets. He holds a B.S. degree in Finance from Villanova University.

Michael lives in the greater Philadelphia area with his wife, and loves to stay active with his six children. He loves to be outdoors and enjoys sports, road biking, hiking, swimming, and farming. He is proud to support several important causes, including ALS Society, MS Society, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.

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Amy Cummings, Vice President for Marketing and Trainings

 

Amy Cummings is the Vice President of Marketing and Training for VitaHEAT Medical®. She is responsible for positioning the product in the marketplace, gaining visibility for the company, and training the team to deliver a great product. In addition, Amy prepares the company for success through innovation development and growth opportunities.
Amy comes to VitaHEAT Medical with an extensive clinical and sales background. Amy has held various Vice President leadership positions in sales, client development, marketing and training with companies such as GE, Accretive Health, Propeller Health and others. She specialized in pediatric nursing in the hospital setting, and then went on to gain extensive experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare consulting, and medical device fields. Amy earned her Master’s degree in Nursing and Master’s degree in Business from the University of Iowa.

In her free time, Amy enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys. Oftentimes, they are at the CrossFit gym or soccer matches, running off energy and enjoying challenges outside of work.

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Peter Farmakis, President & CEO

“We have invested more than four years in developing the new VitaHEAT UB3 system. We are excited to offer this innovative solution that helps prevent patient hypothermia. Our focus is to continually bring new innovations for patient warming to market, with a goal of improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs. We see the VitaHEAT UB3 as the first of many patient warming solutions that we will introduce over the next few years.”— Peterv c1

Peter Farmakis joined VitaHEAT Medical®, LLC in May of 2015 as President and CEO.

Peter has a successful track record of building and leading organizations to deliver results. Leadership experience includes start-up, high-growth, established and turnaround business life cycles. Prior to VitaHEAT Medical, he held Senior Leadership positions in the Medical Device Businesses of Abbott Laboratories. Peter completed the Management Development Program at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and held several Commercial Marketing & Sales Leadership Positions in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Businesses of J&J. Prior to J&J and between J&J and Abbott, Peter worked in three start-up companies including OraPharma (acquired by J&J), Solvay (acquired by Abbott), and DynaSplint Systems.

Peter earned a B.A. in Pre-Physical Therapy & Psychology, and an MBA in Marketing & Strategic Management from the University of Illinois. He completed the Post-MBA General Management Executive Development Program, from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.