At the Association of Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) meeting in Charlotte earlier this month, V̇-Com™ by SleepRes was introduced to the sleep medicine community, and over 300 sleep medicine physicians and mid-levels took the time to put on a CPAP mask themselves and experience the inspiratory comfort provided by V̇-Com™. A follow-up survey was conducted, and 96% of respondents who experienced V̇-Com™ themselves at APSS believe it would just be simpler to include a V̇-Com™ with each new PAP setup.
In addition, 92% of the respondents believe V̇-Com™ will improve CPAP adherence with new patients, and 96% believe it will help patients struggling with CPAP. Of the respondents who tried V̇-Com™ themselves, 76% were sleep medicine physicians, 12% were mid-levels, and 12% were polysomnography technicians. The total response rate was 16% (52/320).
Furthermore, 84% of sleep medicine physicians and mid-levels responding to the survey believe V̇-Com™ will decrease phone calls to their offices as well as to the medical equipment companies’ offices.
“When you combine decreased phone calls, complaints, pressure changes, and mask exchanges with V̇-Com™’s increased adherence, no wonder sleep doctors want everyone to have one, said Kami Harold, Vice President of Sales for SleepRes.
“It was fun to watch all their faces when we put a V̇-Com™ in the [PAP] circuit,” said Meghan Adams, NP, who helped in the SleepRes booth because of the crowd. “First their eyes got big; then they smiled, then they nodded and said, ‘I feel it.’ We have found the same with our patients. It gives them tremendous confidence when starting CPAP. We are providing V̇-Com™ to everyone.”
V̇-Com™ provides inspiratory comfort to new and struggling patients on CPAP and bi-level PAP for noninvasive ventilation. V̇-Com™ takes advantage of the parabolic nature of turbulent flow in a PAP circuit to provide comfort on inspiration and still preserve the therapy from the expiratory pressure (EPAP). SleepRes describes their new product as “Training Wheels for CPAP” as it helps new patients acclimate to CPAP faster and easier, just like training wheels on a bike.
“The survey results were not surprising,” said Craig Salazar, President of SleepRes. “With so many sleep providers wanting V̇-Com™ for all their patients, there is a huge opportunity for medical equipment companies and manufacturers to not only increase adherence and resupply but increase market share. V̇-Com™ is an inexpensive way to do both.”
Since introducing the V̇-Com™ at APSS, SleepRes has had requests for V̇-Com™ from all over the globe. While V̇-Com™ has met the regulatory requirements of the FDA here in the US, it is now on a similar regulatory path in other countries. V̇-Com™ is not a therapy itself but an accessory to PAP therapy that provides comfort to new and struggling patients on PAP.
“It was very heart-warming to see my peers and friends at APSS excited about the V̇-Com™,” said William Noah, MD, the inventor of V̇-Com™. “Experiencing V̇-Com™ for yourself better demonstrates the value than my boring explanation of the physics.”
“The AASM and its meeting staff did a wonderful job and provided us a great opportunity at APSS,“ said Harold. “We must thank both ReactHealth [formerly 3B Medical] and Philips for their strong support of the V̇-Com™ by providing hundreds and hundreds of new masks for all the providers to wear.”
Source: SleepRes
