Dräger announced earlier this week that its Perseus A500 anesthesia workstation has been released. It will be introduced for the first time in the U.S. at the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting next week.

To get a better idea of what type of workstation anesthesia caregivers need, Dräger watched them in their work environment as they interacted with patients and utilized the technology. As a result, over 100 different variations of the workstation can be created with the various hardware options, shelf arrangements, storage areas and software options including ventilation and monitoring modes.

Dräger designed the ventilator so that its quality is similar to an intensive care ventilator. The company claims that it's the first and only ventilator in the U.S. that has Airway Pressure Release Ventilation in order to support continuous care from the ICU and OR.

When the workstation is integrated with Dräger's IACS monitoring system, the anesthesia, ventilation and hemodynamic data can all be shown on the same screen. Carbon dioxide, flow and pressure waveforms can also been shown at the same time along with other waveforms and parameters.

In order to improve ergonomics, Dräger added a big workspace area with good lighting to organize tools and supplies. There are also large storage drawers, a writing tray that pulls out and can also be used as a drawer, different shelving options and various hooks and rails.

It has a breathing system that that assists with the cleaning process in order to speed up the time it takes to maintain the workstation. It also has integrated cable management channels that help prevent accidental disconnection and infection.

It has an automatic self-starting device test, which allows the users to shutdown the workstation at the end of the day and then set a time for it to start up again in the morning.

The Radio Frequency Identification technology built into the workstation alerts the user to replace disposable materials including water traps, breathing tubes and soda lime absorbers.

When the vaporizers are mounted onto the workstation, they are immediately recognized and the control dial setting for the vaporizers can be seen on the workstation's screen. So the users can access vaporizer settings, anesthetic agent concentrations and other information all in one place.

"The Perseus A500 can be easily tailored to meet the needs of users, and thereby help them achieve departmental and hospital goals," David Karchner, director of marketing in North America at Dräger, said in a statement. "It's a powerful addition to an already solid anesthesia portfolio, which includes the Apollo and Fabius product families.

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