Overview
For the human body to function properly, it must maintain homeostasis. Critical care monitoring devices provide real-time, continuous or intermittent measurement of critical physiological parameters to help physicians identify and correct imbalances, with the goal of re-establishing homeostasis.
Monitoring devices are typically comprised of sensors, which detect mechanical or chemical patient events, a processing device, which converts patient information collected by the sensors to electrical signals, and a display screen. Market segmentation is defined by the type and number of parameters being monitored, the size of the monitoring device, and the location of the monitor within the hospital.
Monitors can track either a single parameter, commonly pulse oximetry, or multiple parameters, typically a number of vital signs (blood pressure, ECG, heart rate, respiration rate, pulse oximetry and temperature). Monitors can be stationary (bedside), handheld or portable. Critical care monitoring takes place mainly in the OR and a variety of intensive care units, but has expanded to other hospital areas due to the cost containment pressure to move acute patients into lower-cost care areas sooner.
Different patient care areas have different monitoring needs. Areas with greater acuity such as the OR and ICU will have monitors with the greatest number of parameters available, including invasive parameters. Cardiac surgery monitors may include parameters for invasive cardiac output and blood pressure, while neurosurgery monitors may include intracranial pressure or EEG parameters. Lower acuity areas will not need certain parameters, such as anesthetic agent identification, and may not be able to justify the risks of an invasive sensor such as that required for continuous blood pressure or continuous cardiac output reading. The ER is most likely to use portable monitors so that patient monitoring is uninterrupted during transfer to other areas of the hospital.
Market Opportunity
Growth and opportunity in the critical care monitoring market will be allowed for new technology that enables cost savings, is less-invasive or non-invasive and therefore reduces complications and length of stay, or facilitates patient mobility and record keeping. Also, in the future we expect more devices that merge monitoring and therapeutics, for example devices with automatic feedback loops that initiate corrective action when baseline readings fluctuate out of range. Kairos estimates the market for monitoring equipment overall is $2.2 billion worldwide with compound average growth rates of 5%. Niche applications, however, can carry growth rates of up to 40%.
Kairos Focus
Kairos focuses primarily on companies with products that offer a proprietary technology advantage, occupy a higher growth market niche (ambulatory surgical centers, telemetry) and/or offer a less-invasive or non-invasive alternative to an existing monitoring technique for the critical care hospital patient. |
