Guys please help me out. As a new manager I recently bought 4 Espirts. Now ECRI says this is not recommended due to safety of alarms and the lack of an active Exp valve. Does anyone know the impact this will have?

New Guy,
Thanks for starting this thread. I have read this report, and it is pretty comprehensive. It was easy for me to locate on their site when I first heard about it. I wanted to post a link here, but can't seem to find it as easily now. Hopefully another visitor with better ability to find it can provide us a link. Anyone wanting to read the comparison who can't locate it either can Emailgary.mefford@ventworld.com. Your question about the impact this will have is a good one, but I am pretty sure Respironics is aware of how this model compares with its competition. I don't want to speak for them, but I have gotten the feeling from some of their reps, that these new things we are seeing come along with other vents are unproven and they have not chosen to include unproven modalities. I hope one of their people or someone who is an huge Esprit fan will provide more insight on this. I don't like to come across biased. I know these are safe effective machines for many situations, but you have to make informed decisions for your situations and do your own comparisons. VentWorld's "Capital Purchase Decision Tool" which can be accessed free on this site is a great tool for doing this. There have been other discussions on these threads of whether this machine can be considered an ICU vent. I am hoping to get some more exposure soon to what Respironics has to offer. My take is that Respironics is one of the best features of this vent. Combined with the NICO and other products, their people, the tools and support they provide can also be considered features. ECRI was very specific in their evaluation/criticism. This is an important product for this company and one can only guess that they will find solid ways to address the findings of this comparison or deft ways for their product reps to answer what may seem on the surface like objections. I really don't want to come across as a fan of any particular manufacturer. I appreciate each of their features and functions. I do however hope to learn how Respironics addresses these concerns that have been registered by this prestigious source. These machines are easily upgradeable as I understand. Perhaps they already have some of the issues solved and in the pipeline. What will be the end effect one can only guess, unless you are a Respironics insider. This is a solid company with a lot of market savvy, so my guess is that if this report has an effect on their ability to place machines in facilities, they will adapt to the market.

These findings aside, what sold you? We would be very interested in how they work out for you. In light of the comparison, do you think you would have made a different decision?

Thanks for the great post.
Gary

Gary,

I want to thank you for your quick response. I am only now learning the true benefits of reaching out to our small community of dedicated RT's. You asked me what sold me, well I took for granted that the Name branding they had would cross over to all products. Now this was a poor assumption on my part as We know the 760 was never half the machine the 840 has proven to be to draw a comparison. It was reasonably priced and the sales rep seemed like he knew what he was talking about. I thought perhaps I could get by on a less expensive vent.

My biggest concern is the expiratory valve. Why would a company with a vast pipeline not invest in suitable valve. As stated by ECRI this is the benchmark that all ICU's will expect.
I have to agree that they will invest in fixing the cumbersome safety check that (ECRI) they stated are afraid will be skipped. Although I would have to place some blame on the end user.One should never skipped checks as we put our patients at great risk.

To answer as to would I still make the same purchase it is a NO.In the day in age of lawsuits and quick money schemes I am afraid a lawyer would burn the words NOT RECOMENDED in the jurys head. The next question is who signed for it.

I will wait to see when all is said in done how they approach these concerns. But lesson learned if it seems to good to be true, it probaly is.

Thanks again

I hope Respironics figures the safety check issue out. As an RN & RT who has worked in a rural Critical Access Hospital, I feel that the Esprit fills the niche market of ventilators for smaller hospitals well. It does a good job as a mechanical ventilation platform without all the bells & whistles. Rural hospitals are not going to use APRV, MMV, NAVA, etc. In addition, it has the flexibility of switching over to Non-Invasive Ventilation easily.(Although I understand from my RT colleagues that it doesn't work quite as well as a dedicated NIV platform, such as the Vision.) The active exhalation valve issue is a nuisance thing as far as I can tell. The machine is going to alarm if the pt. coughs, this isn't a pt. safety issue as far as I can tell.