Development of a valve type semi-closed extracorporeal circulation system.

In Japan, perfusionists who work on other clinical tasks are involved in cardiopulmonary bypass. Moreover, the number of cases they can perform is limited. In view of this situation, valve type semi-closed extracorporeal circulation (VACC) was developed as a system that enables extracorporeal circulation (ECC) regardless of perfusionists' experience. The VACC circuit is based on a conventional open-type ECC circuit. A safety valve is installed at the outlet of the reservoir. It is closed by lowering the reservoir pressure below the venous circuit pressure (Pv), thereby providing a closed-type ECC in which the reservoir is separated from the venous circuit (V-circuit). A closed-type ECC needs means to cope with negative pressure generated in the V-circuit and to remove air mixed in the V-circuit. Water experiments to verify the safety of the VACC were conducted. In experiments simulating low venous return, when the Pv dropped, the safety valve opened so that the V-circuit was connected to the reservoir, and the excessive negative pressure was relieved. In the VACC circuit, a bubble trap is installed in the V-circuit, and the air is degassed to the reservoir by a roller pump (D-pump). A water experiment was conducted to verify the principle of the constant degassing method using the D-pump. It verified that the blood storage volume could be maintained constant even if the D-pump is continuously driven. The VACC system provides handling of air mixed in the V-circuit and safety in the case of low venous return.

Evaluation of pharmaceutical lifesaving skills training oriented pharmaceutical intervention.

BACKGROUND: Many pharmacists are participating in team-based medical care in emergency hospitals. Therefore, there is a desperate need to improve the education system. In the present study, we provided a "pharmaceutical lifesaving skills training" to the students in their fifth and sixth year of the pharmaceutical school and evaluated the program's impact on the students' learning and confidence in their ability to perform pharmaceutical interventions for emergency patients. METHODS: We conducted a pharmaceutical lifesaving skills training program with 12 participants who were in their fifth and six year of pharmaceutical school. We prepared a fictional scenario in which a patient with cardiac arrest has been rushed into a hospital. We measured the participants' level of knowledge of pharmaceutical lifesaving procedures and participants' confidence to perform pharmaceutical interventions before and after the training session. Using the data obtained from type II quantification method, we examined what elements in the content of the pharmaceutical lifesaving skill training attended by pharmacy students will affect the students' confidence to perform pharmaceutical interventions. In addition, using the correspondence structural analysis, we examined which sections of the content of the pharmaceutical lifesaving skill training should be improved in the future. RESULTS: When we evaluated the level of knowledge acquired in pharmaceutical lifesaving skills training, the post-training overall correct answer rate was significantly higher than the pre-training overall correct answer rate. And also, level of participants' confidence to perform pharmaceutical interventions similarly increased after pharmaceutical lifesaving skill training. The influence degree graph indicates that the items likely to have a major impact on the participants' confidence to perform pharmaceutical interventions was "Selecting medicine". According to the correspondence structural analysis graph based on the questionnaire survey, one item identified as an improvement required was "Selecting medicine". CONCLUSIONS: Our high-performance patient simulator-based lifesaving skills training program not only increased the participants' understanding of the training content but also increased their confidence in their ability to perform pharmaceutical interventions. Therefore, the pharmaceutical lifesaving skills training program we developed will contribute to the education of emergency care pharmacists who can perform pharmaceutical interventions for emergency patients.