Dräger Medical sets new paradigm for acute patient care

Standardization saves time, improves processes

The Infinity Acute Care System consistently reflects harmonization. All devices that are utilized throughout the entire acute care process have the same base hardware and software architecture, user interface and nomenclature. The Infinity System is designed to integrate most key acute patient care functions based on a common technology concept: patient monitoring, ventilation, anesthesia, IT, Web applications, and accessories. This integration provides virtually seamless data capture and access to patient data throughout the entire acute patient care process.

The hub of the Infinity System is the Medical Cockpit™, a standardized control unit that will enable hospital staff to access patient data, as well as monitor patients and manage therapy devices. Also, access to the hospital information system is possible from the cockpit, as is calling up diagnostic images via the integrated syngo® functionality from Dräger’s joint venture partner, Siemens.

Infinity generates information from different data sources which can enable better, faster decision-making and thereby increase patient safety. Because the system is designed with plug-and-play components, processes such as in-hospital transport are greatly simplified.

In addition to clinical advantages, the Infinity System offers greater investment protection. Thanks to its scalable and modular structure, in the future it can be implemented and extended as required. The components can be used throughout the hospital and support maximum device utilization. Infinity grows with the hospital’s infrastructure needs – from a single bed or application, to a departmental solution, on to a hospital-wide solution.

Listening to customer needs

“For the first time, a medical technology company is offering a crossdepartmental, standardized and integrated system. Three years of development time and results from numerous strategic and technical workshops from around the world have gone into the creation of the Dräger Infinity Acute Care System – together with the knowledge of disciplines such as anesthesia, respiration therapy, and patient monitoring that the company has acquired over decades,” says Stefan Dräger, Chairman of the Executive Board of Drägerwerk AG.

Working closely with a variety of experts from leading European, Asian and American hospitals, Dräger Medical researched the key requirements for future clinical workstations in a process-driven hospital environment. One common objective of the clinicians was standardization in order to reduce training time, avoid errors and cope with high turnover of personnel in hospitals. They also wanted to have information generated from the flood of real-time and historical patient data in order to make faster and more competent decisions. That meant reducing unnecessary interfaces and achieving greater data transparency, consistency and integration.

The first products for the Dräger Infinity® Acute Care System™ will be supplied in spring 2007. The products will be registered and launched successively worldwide.

About Dräger Medical

Dräger Medical AG & Co. KG is one of the world's leading manufacturers of medical devices, the largest division of Drägerwerk AG (history dates back to 1889) and a 65:35 joint venture company between Drägerwerk AG and Siemens AG. The global Company offers products, services and integrated CareArea™ Solutions throughout the patient care process – Emergency Care, Perioperative Care, Critical Care, Perinatal Care and Home Care. With headquarters in Lübeck, Germany, Dräger Medical employs nearly 6,000 people worldwide.