Print 
Share 
Text 
To reset, hold the Ctrl key, then press 0.
Dr. Andrew Seely developed the innovative device, which he believes will help improve patient care.
The Ottawa Hospital is the first hospital in the world to evaluate an innovative medical device that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict when critically ill patients are ready to breathe on their own, called the Extubation Advisor. The device was developed by Dr. Andrew Seely, a critical care physician, thoracic surgeon and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and founder and CEO of Therapeutic Monitoring Systems (TMS).
A medical first
Over the last two years of the pandemic, more Canadians than ever have experienced extreme difficulty breathing, requiring mechanical ventilation (intubation) in critical care units across the country. According to the Ontario Science Table, at the peak of wave three, the number of patients on ventilators was more than 180 percent of pre-pandemic historical averages, and the recovery is not easy.
A mechanical ventilator is a machine that helps patients breathe when they cannot breathe on their own due to critical illness, such as COVID-19, or surgery. The machine is connected to a breathing tube that is inserted into the patient’s trachea. The process of intubating (inserting the tube) and extubating (removing the tube) is very complex, and anyone requiring ventilation will require months of recovery and rehabilitation to learn how to swallow, eat, talk and breathe again. Currently, there is no patient monitoring equipment to help physicians decide the best time to remove a patient from a ventilator to improve their outcomes, but Dr. Seely and his team are well on their way to changing that.
Over the last 13 years, Dr. Seely and his colleagues have made major progress in using complex mathematics, artificial intelligence and routinely collected vital sign data to predict when patients are ready to be extubated. Dr. Seely founded TMS in 2007 to further develop the research and bring it closer to helping patients. In 2019, TMS partnered with manufacturer OBS Medical to bring their design and concept to life, and this year, the system was used for three months at the bedside of ventilated patients in The Ottawa Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with permission from their families.
A step in the right direction
“Currently, one in every seven ICU patients experiences extubation failure. Prolonged ventilation harms patients, and early extubation requiring reintubation can be a devastating blow to their recovery,” says Dr. Seely, who is also a professor at the University of Ottawa. “We’ve developed the first medical device to offer extubation decision support, which we believe will help standardize and improve care.”
The device constantly monitors and analyzes a patient’s vital signs, including blood pressure, oxygen levels, breathing rhythms and heart rate during their ventilation. Then, it uses AI to provide doctors with a specific read of when the patient can be safely removed from the ventilator. This is the first time that real-time predictive analytics based on this type of high-frequency data is being used and evaluated at the bedside.
Dr. Seely and his team hope this tool will help improve patient safety and outcomes in the near future. After the successful three-month initial evaluation at The Ottawa Hospital, the metrics are looking promising, and the feedback received from physicians was very positive.
“What Dr. Seely and TMS are doing is revolutionary. It’s the future of medicine,” says Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, Department Head of Critical Care at The Ottawa Hospital. “This kind of technology will allow us to make more informed decisions that are precise and patient centered. This will allow for better outcomes and improved resource use. Honestly, this is groundbreaking research.”
Dr. Seely and his team’s next steps include a randomized controlled trial. With each milestone, they are one step closer to transforming care for some of the sickest patients treated at hospitals.
“Although there is still work to be done to evaluate clinical impact, this first-time bedside implementation is a step in the right direction of transforming routine monitoring into improved care,” says Dr. Seely. “We are grateful to our partners, collaborators, consenting patients and research team who are enabling this innovation.”
All researchers at The Ottawa Hospital follow a Responsible Innovation framework for developing and commercializing innovations in a responsible way.
Support patient care and research at
The Ottawa Hospital
You might also like…
Does this backboard look comfortable to you?
Imagine this: You’re flat on your back, strapped tight to a rigid backboard, unable to move at all. Fortunately, this is no longer the reality for most low-risk trauma patients when they’re brought to hospital in our province. Find out how researchers at The Ottawa Hospital teamed up with paramedics across Ontario to make the journey a lot more comfortable.
Ever have a tough time making a medical decision? These tools can help you
When faced with a medical condition, there may not be one clear path forward — but we have something to help you with that. The Ottawa Hospital is home to the largest collection of decision aids in the world, covering everything from various cancers to depression to allergies.
2SLGBTQIA+ care at The Ottawa Hospital: A helpful guide
The Ottawa Hospital offers an array of services and resources to help meet the specific care needs of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community — including a provincial-first gender-affirming surgery clinic, a 24/7 care program for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and a specialty clinic for medically complex patients seeking help on their transition journeys.
New radiation machine targets cancer with pinpoint accuracy — even as the tumour moves during treatment
“We can deliver a radiation treatment that’s exactly personalized for the patient on that day.” The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre is now one of the first in Canada to acquire the state-of-the-art MR-Linac radiation therapy system.
New gender-affirming surgery clinic now accepting patients
The Ottawa Hospital’s new gender-affirming surgery clinic is truly one of a kind. Launched in September 2023, it’s the only clinic in Ontario to offer trans and non-binary patients facial, top and bottom procedures. Plastic Surgeon Dr. Nicholas Cormier and his team are happy to announce that they are now accepting patient referrals from physicians.
Mental health professionals and paramedics team up to help people in crisis
Seven days a week, a mental health professional from The Ottawa Hospital hits the road with a paramedic from the Ottawa Paramedic Service. Together, they respond to 911 calls for mental health emergencies across the city. Social worker Cindy Gill and paramedic Scott Farrell share how the Mental Wellbeing Response Team provides quality care for patients out in the community.
Comment on this post