Evaluation of a Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Monitoring Technology During Emergency Transport Conditions as Compared to the ProPaq LT

Objectives
In most emergency transport environments, both patients and medical equipment are exposed to unstable circumstances due to the vehicle's movement and vibration. The noise and motion artifact generated often make it difficult to obtain a successful automated blood pressure reading. To address these complications, SunTech Medical has developed an oscillometric NIBP technology designed specifically for emergency transport applications. We performed a clinical evaluation of this technology and compared it to a recognized market leader for monitoring vital signs during emergency transport.

Methods
This clinical evaluation compared the performance of the AdvantageTM Transport Motion Tolerant (TMT) NIBP technology from SunTech Medical against blood pressure measurements made by the Welch Allyn ProPaq LT under emergency transport conditions. A total of 45 subjects participated in this study giving 450 total data points for inter-device comparison.

Results
The ProPaq LT provided successful blood pressure measurements on 96.2% of all attempts while the Advantage TMT technology achieved a higher measurement success rate of 98.4%. On average, the ProPaq LT required 42.6 ± 23.2 seconds to complete a successful reading, while the Advantage TMT technology achieved a quicker and more consistent average reading time of 36.3 ± 15.0 seconds. Both devices performed well when compared to manual reference readings, however the ProPaq LT showed standard deviations considerably higher than the Advantage TMT technology.

Conclusion
When tested under typical circumstances for emergency transport, the Advantage TMT NIBP technology consistently reported blood pressure readings at a quicker and more reliable rate than the ProPaq LT. The Advantage TMT also demonstrated significantly less variability than the ProPaq LT without compromising overall accuracy.
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