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THE EFFECT OF STERILIZATION ON
THE METEORÕ PEDIATRIC /ADULT FLOW TRANSDUCER
Michael Tracy RRT, Timothy Myers
BS, RRT, Robert Chatburn RRT, FAARC Rainbow Babies and ChildrenÕs Hospital,
Cleveland Ohio
BACKGROUND: Previous work
at our institution (Respir Care 2001;46(10):1138) compared the measured accuracy
of Bird and Novametrix flow/volume transducers to determine initial accuracy
and accuracy after ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilizations. The purpose of this
study was to measure the initial accuracy of the Meteorª probes, and to determine
if they would maintain accuracy after ETO sterilizations.
Methods: Probes studied previously
had their manufacturerÕs accuracy range from 3% to 15%. We arbitrarily set a
clinically acceptable error range of ±10% for uniform consistency. The same
±10% was applied to this bench test for consistency in this retrospective comparison.
New Meteor pediatric/adult flow transducers were evaluated for accuracy of tidal
volume (Vt) delivery using calibrated syringes. As in our previous work, probes
were tested at Vt of 200, 400, 700 and 1000cc. Five different probes were tested
new out of the package, and each sensor was independently evaluated five times
at each calibrated Vt. Data were then analyzed as a percentage error for both
new condition and after each of five resterilizations. Error was calculated
as the difference (measured value true value) and expressed as a percentage
of the true value. Mean and standard deviation was calculated for errors across
all volumes for each condition (new and resterilizations). Error intervals were
calculated as mean error ±2.31 x SD (Respir Care 1996;41:1092-1099) and interpreted
as the expected error for 95% of future measurements at the 99% confidence level.
Results: Each number in the
table below summarizes 100 volume measurements. Data below are lower (L) and
upper (U) values of the error intervals. Bird and Novametrix data obtained from
our previous work are included for comparison.
Sterilizations |
| Pediatric Volumes |
New |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
| |
L |
U |
L |
U |
L |
U |
L |
U |
L |
U |
L |
U |
| Bird |
-2.3 |
4.9 |
-5.0 |
2.8 |
-3.8 |
2.0 |
-4.3 |
1.1 |
-6.4 |
3.4 |
-4.7 |
2.6 |
| Novametrix |
-8.0 |
-2.1 |
-10.1 |
-2.0 |
-8.1 |
-2.9 |
-9.8 |
-3.1 |
-10.3 |
-1.8 |
-8.3 |
-3.1 |
| Meteor |
7.7 |
14.8 |
9.9 |
13.4 |
9.5 |
13.2 |
9.3 |
14.4 |
11.1 |
15.2 |
10.0 |
14.1 |
CONCLUSION: In this bench
test, the results indicate that Meteor probe error was within the range of values
specified by other manufacturers (Bird and Novametrix). However; they exceeded
our standard of acceptible error (± 10%), while the Bird and Novametrix probes
did not.
OF-02-042
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