New Interactive Map Highlights Safest Hospitals for Patients Receiving Patient-Controlled Analgesia, Features Hospitals That Monitor With Capnography

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Aug 14, 2013, 09:25 ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind., Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A Promise to Amanda Foundation, an advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness about respiratory depression, announced today the release of an interactive map designed to help patients take safety into their own hands.

The Hospitals That Monitor with Capnography map highlights facilities that monitor patients with capnography and pulse oximetry any time they use opioid drugs to manage pain after surgery.

Built on the Google Maps Engine, the Hospitals That Monitor map allows users to find directions to any facility from any device who use continuous electronic monitoring with capnography and pulse oximetry for any patient receiving patient-controlled analgesia (PCA).

Capnography saves lives.

"More than 56,000 adverse events and 700 patient deaths were linked to PCA between 2005 and 2009," says Brian Abbiehl, who with his wife, Cindy Abbiehl, founded A Promise to Amanda Foundation after their 18 year-old daughter, Amanda, tragically died in 2010 while receiving PCA.

"PCA pumps deliver opioid drugs that can induce respiratory arrest, or what is known in medicine as Code Blue. Capnography provides the earliest detection of respiratory depression and enables healthcare professionals to prevent Code Blue events. Capnography saves lives."

The new map currently plots 44 hospitals on a map of North America. "A Promise to Amanda Foundation is working to help other hospitals implement continuous electronic monitoring for all patients on PCA pumps. We are also looking to add to the map hospitals that already monitor with capnography but with whom we do not yet have a relationship," says Abbiehl.

Abbiehl adds, "It's important that patients be given the resources necessary to prioritize their own safety. The Hospitals That Monitor map is a way for patients to become engaged in their own safety even before they speak with their nurses and physicians by making informed decisions about which hospitals prioritize patient safety."

About A Promise to Amanda Foundation

A Promise to Amanda Foundation is a patient safety advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness about respiratory depression. Its goal is that continuously electronically monitoring with capnography and pulse oximetry becomes mandatory for all patients on a PCA pump, under sedation, and requiring a stay in the post anesthesia care unit. Brian and Cindy Abbiehl launched the Foundation after their 18 year-old daughter Amanda tragically died while using a PCA pump. For more information, please visit http://www.promisetoamanda.org

SOURCE A Promise to Amanda Foundation