2016 Monitoring Impending Respiratory Failure in an Outpatient Setting

respiratory teamTeam: Justin Choe, Andrew Hild, Dhruv Kothari, Anisha Kumar

Client: Dr. George Su, MD, Assistant Professor of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF and SFGH

Problem: Outpatients have limited access to options that can accurately assess their level of respiratory compromise and impending respiratory failure without extreme inconvenience and expense.

Needs Statement: A method to predict impending type II respiratory failure in outpatients with COPD to reduce the rate of respiratory related outpatient mortality.

COPD diagramPurpose:
The process of respiration occurs primarily within the lungs and involves numerous steps that serve to promote gas exchange. Chronic respiratory disorders are a group of diseases affecting the airways and other associated structures of the lungs. These generally lead to impaired respiration and physiological stress, potentially culminating in a life-threatening condition. As such, a method to monitor respiratory function in an outpatient setting is a crucial clinical need that would be of utmost importance to the well-being of patients suffering from these disorders. In particular, the ability to alert patients of impending respiratory failure has the potential to greatly increase both a patient’s understanding of his or her condition and improve his or her quality of life.

Population: Outpatients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) who suffer from type II respiratory failure.

Outcome: To reduce the occurrence of outpatient related respiratory mortality due to an inability to determine the potential for respiratory failure.

respiratory team