Anesthesia systems for ambulatory surgery settings

This Evaluation presents ECRI's detailed findings for two anesthesia systems designed for the ambulatory surgery market-the Datex-Ohmeda S/5 Aespire 7100 and the Draeger Medical Fabius Tiro. The study examines whether and how well the systems can meet the needs of the typical patient population for this application, and it considers factors such as the adequacy of the systems' safety features, the comprehensiveness of their pre-use checks, and ease of use. We subjected the two systems to the same test protocol that is detailed in our July 2006 Evaluation of anesthesia systems designed for inpatient surgical applications. While the six systems evaluated in that issue could also be used in outpatient clinics and other ambulatory surgery centers, such systems are not the most economical choices for these facilities. The two systems we evaluate in the current study offer performance similar to that of the inpatient units, without many of the (often expensive) features that would likely go unused in an ambulatory surgery setting.