Prior to being placed on ECMO, these patients have an estimated survival of less than 20 percent. With ECMO, we can change the survival to greater than 80 percent. While a patient is on the ECMO machine, a specially trained team of nurses monitors the patient around the clock. One nurse operates the ECMO machine, making adjustments in the flow of blood from the patient, through the machine and back into the patient. Another nurse monitors the patient's vital signs.
Physicians check the patient frequently, watching for evidence that the lungs are healing.
Emanuel Children's Hospital has nine neonatologists and three pediatric intensivists on staff who have ECMO training. We believe we can have a similar impact on pediatric patients, as well. At Emanuel, we are one of only 60 ECMO centers world-wide accepting older patients. Seeing a baby in an ECMO unit drives home the invasive and complex nature of the treatment. Nurses monitor the various instruments and horizontal lines that wiggle their way across screens on the gleaming ECMO machine.