VIENNA, VA – October 31, 2017 – The Respiratory Compromise Institute (RCI) was selected to present an update on respiratory compromise — a potentially deadly condition — at CHEST 2017, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, taking place in Toronto.
Respiratory compromise is a deterioration of respiratory function that poses a high risk of life-threatening respiratory failure. Respiratory failure is the second leading avoidable patient safety issue.1 It is one of the top five conditions leading to increasing hospital costs2 and the third most rapidly increasing hospital inpatient cost in the United States.3 General care floor patients with respiratory compromise are 29 times more likely to die.2
The plenary workshop presentation, “The Respiratory Compromise Institute and Its Current and Future Research Endeavors,” introduced the RCI to clinicians attending the CHEST meeting. The session also highlighted the latest research on the growing incidence of respiratory compromise through data mined from Medicare claims and delineated future areas for research to better understand how to reduce the incidence of respiratory compromise in both medical and surgical patient populations.
“Our institute is a one-of-a-kind medical society alliance, dedicated to better understanding, raising awareness about and developing strategies to improve the identification and prevention of respiratory compromise, an under-recognized condition with potentially fatal consequences,” said James Lamberti, MD, FCCP, Professor of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, one of the workshop presenters. “My colleagues at the Respiratory Compromise Institute are committed to enhancing the breadth and depth of knowledge about this condition, as well as developing diagnostic and mitigation approaches that drive down the incidence of respiratory compromise and improve health and economic outcomes.”
Additional workshop presenters included: Gerry Criner, MD, FACP, FACCP, Chair and Professor, Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University; Phillip Porte, Executive Director of RCI; Sidney Braman, MD, FCCP, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Neil MacIntyre, MD, FCCP, Duke University Hospital; and Jeffrey Vender, MD, FCCP, Evanston Hospital.
In May at ATS 2017, the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society, RCI had presented two studies evaluating mortality associated with respiratory compromise in hospitalized Medicare patients. The studies were the first retrospective analyses of mortality associated with respiratory compromise (as measured by respiratory failure) based on Medicare administrative claims data. The findings identified respiratory compromise as a leading cause of mortality in hospitalized Medicare patients.
See an animation about respiratory compromise by visiting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHZuuEAmDSE
About Respiratory Compromise
Respiratory compromise, which includes respiratory distress, insufficiency, failure and arrest, can occur across numerous clinical scenarios. For example, respiratory compromise may appear post-operatively or may be drug-induced by the delivery of a sedative, opioid, or analgesic to patients who were not properly assessed or properly monitored.
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, respiratory compromise is the third most rapidly increasing hospital inpatient cost in the United States, with $7.8 billion spent on respiratory compromise in U.S. hospitals in 2007. Respiratory compromise increases patient mortality rates by over 30 percent and hospital and ICU stays by almost 50 percent. RCI defines respiratory compromise as a state in which there is a high likelihood of decompensation into respiratory insufficiency, respiratory failure or death that could be prevented or mitigated through specific interventions (enhanced monitoring and/or therapies).
About Respiratory Compromise Institute
The Respiratory Compromise Institute brings together a broad-based coalition of organizations, companies, and individuals dedicated to reducing—and eventually eliminating—preventable adverse events and deaths due to respiratory compromise.