Advances in Critical Care

Critical or intensive care has been growing and changing over the years since its original inception back in the 1950s during the widespread outbreak of polio. Critical care was originally invented due to necessity, as a way to find solutions to difficult problems resulting from lack of equipment, a devastating number of patients, and difficulty treating the condition.

During this outbreak, new medical devices were invented to help circumvent these issues, and the precursor to the modern-day ventilator was invented at this time. A device that we still use in hospitals today. This shows that critical care is a fast-moving industry and that changes in the medical field come quickly during times of strife especially. While the nature of critical care has changed majorly since the 1950s, we have these original strides to thank some of our most used techniques and technologies today. Even important methods of infection control were invented a very long time ago, most during the outbreak of Spanish Influenza in 1918 where some of the first-ever cases of quarantine and isolation were recorded.

So many of our current mainstays in the medical industry have origins many years in the past, and keeping up to date with what new changes may be on the horizon is important in staying ahead of the curve. Both in the interest of providing the best possible care to patients and in creating new methods that will be used for years to come.

At Paragon Care, we want to help dedicated surgeons and doctors to provide patients with the most up-to-date care by offering the newest medical devices available, and by always keeping a watchful eye for new advancements in the industry. Medical device companies are a key pillar in making innovation accessible to all, and we are a part of that.

Modern Critical Care

There have been numerous technological advancements since the 1900s, so while many of the original techniques are still being used, a critical care unit in Australia looks completely different to how it would have all those years ago. Where everything once had to be handled manually, we now benefit from healthcare equipment such as infusion pumps and ECG machines that provide life-giving care to patients across the country.

As most patients classified as critical care have difficulty or are completely unable to ingest nutrients orally, they will generally rely on enteral feeding or infusion therapy to guarantee that they are still getting the nutrients they need. Whether due to mouth or jaw injuries, or unconsciousness, patients need to be provided with nutrients, and it is thanks to these advancements in critical care that we can help them. Medical device companies like Paragon Care will offer a complete range of feeding products and infusion pumps for those patients who need to ingest medication, nutrients or fluids in this manner. While there is a risk of infection within a critical care ward as there is in most areas of a medical facility, hospital-grade disinfection products like those offered by Paragon Care mitigate this risk across the board, providing essential protection against infection for both patients and doctors alike.

Another important pillar of today’s critical care ward is anaesthesia for those patients in significant pain. Anaesthesia is used across almost all medical facilities, and where it is used delivery systems, needle guides, and specialty covers to reduce the risk of infection are all required to ensure that it is being used correctly.

All of these current and essential products are available from Paragon Care and located in our critical care portfolio on our website. But these are just the critical care devices we use today, what advancements are we likely to see when looking to the future?

The possible future of Critical Care

Looking back on the origins of critical care and so many other advances in the medical industry, it’s hard to imagine that the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t going to be the catalyst for many changes and advancements in the industry within the next few years.

The pandemic put significant pressure on hospital teams, teaching the importance of proper infection control and isolation. It also forced facilities to learn how to cope with unprecedented influxes of patients during its height, and some hospitals are still overfilled to this day. Luckily, there will be much that was learned from this, and new advancements will be on the way to help prevent future outbreaks or pandemics from hitting medical teams quite as hard.

We have also seen some interesting developments in Artificial Intelligence concerning the medication industry. These advancements may be applied to monitoring devices, making them more sensitive and faster to provide alerts upon changes in a patient's condition. This could be extremely valuable in future, providing clinicians with more time to make informed decisions about how to proceed with treatment. It will be interesting to see where this goes and how it may affect the industry as we currently know it.

The future of critical care in Australia is likely to see some dramatic changes due to large strides in both the AI and robotics industries, along with important lessons learned due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and we can guarantee that Paragon Care will be there providing support and quality medical devices even as these changes begin.