San Antonio Fire Department and QinFlow Collaborate to Deliver Better Patient Outcome in Emergency Situations

PLANO, TX—QinFlow, the manufacturer of the Warrior line of top-performance and portable blood and IV fluid warming solutions for the entire continuum of emergency care, announced Sept. 8, 2021, that the Warrior line has now been validated to effectively and safely warm rapid intermittent flows like those generated by push-pull methods and hand pumps.

This accomplishment is the result of an active collaboration between San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD)—the first metropolitan fire department worldwide to carry whole blood prehospitally—and QinFlow.

SAFD’s whole blood program has made a life and death difference for a growing number of survivors since 2018. To improve patient outcomes, SAFD’s medical team introduced a new high-flow hand pump infuser developed in accordance with the team’s specifications, with the intention to deliver blood to the sickest patients more effectively. Since keeping trauma patients warm is critically important to combat the lethal “triad of death,” the team approached their warmer vendor, QinFlow, and asked them to validate that the Warrior blood warmer can keep up and effectively warm blood/fluids to body temperature despite the rapid pulsation flows that the new infuser generates.

Following a validation process, the Warrior line now verifiably warms blood/fluids to body temperature, even when rapid intermittent flows of very cold fluids are applied, within the manufacturer’s guidelines for use. “This is great news for any EMS agency and hospital’s emergency teams that apply such rapid intermittent infusion methods,” explains Ariel Katz, CEO of QinFlow Inc.

“We applaud our partner QinFlow for the professionalism and dedication in which they carried their validation process,” comments Ramon Casanova, assistant chief SAFD EMS. “We understand that this has been a resource-intensive process and we would like to thank the QinFlow team for making this investment. The outcome of these efforts include a validated warming solution as well as clear guidelines that assist our ever-lasting efforts to deliver better patient outcome. This collaboration between SAFD and QinFlow underscores, once again, the critical importance of an open dialogue between providers and industry players for the purpose of achieving breakthrough improvements in standard of care.”

“We feel privileged to support SAFD’s medical team on this project,” replies Katz. “New field requirements like the one presented to us by SAFD allow us to improve our products so that emergency personnel that rely on our solutions will be able to deliver the best possible care to their sickest patients. Therefore, we viewed it as our responsibility to proactively engage in this validation effort for the benefits of the diverse communities that we help serve.”

Katz goes on to explain the challenge associated with warming fluids infused intermittently: “Rapid, intermittent flow changes pose great challenges on traditional blood and IV fluid warmers, which were typically designed to handle constant flows generated by gravity, pressure bag, or electro-mechanical pump. To our knowledge, our technology is the only technology in the market that possesses all the prerequisites to effectively warm rapid intermittent flows, such as real-time sensing, superb heat-transfer efficiency, relaxed heat exchange process, and highly robust mechanical structure.”

“We designed our cutting-edge warming platform (patented) to be flexible enough so that we can promptly and effectively validate it against the ever-evolving clinical requirements and use scenarios,” continues Katz. “Our aluminum-free fluid path and affordable consumable design provide additional layers of safety and commercial incentives, respectively. The bottom line is that the Warrior portable solutions deliver the best performance at the lowest cost of ownership; a true win-win approach. Now, with the completion of the validation process for intermittent flows, this price-performance gap is becoming larger than ever.”

Visit www.qinflow.com or contact info@qinflow.com. For more information on SAFD blood program, contact SAFD at firepio@sanantonio.gov.

Since 2009 QinFlow (Quality in Flow) has worked to develop and perfect a proprietary fluid warming technology (patented) that delivers unparalleled levels of warming efficiency. The company’s flagship line of products—the Warrior—provides front-end rescue teams, first responders, critical care transport teams, and emergency care professionals within the hospital with a high performance, reliable, simple to operate, and completely portable blood and IV fluid warming device that operates flawlessly in all environmental conditions in order to fight hypothermia and help in saving lives. QinFlow is headquartered in Rosh Ha’ayin (Israel) and Plano TX (USA).