Abstract
This survey targeted 128 patients with approved implantable ventricular assist devices (iVADs) in Japan implanted from April 2011 to September 2017, and 330 caregivers that were trained on the handling of iVADs. We looked into the outcomes of tests for handling their wearing iVADs.
We then studied the relationship between the results of device handling tests and the trail making test-B (TMT-B) performed for patients;3 and/or 6 months after implanting iVADs. The data was analyzed by Fisher’s exact test, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant.
The number (rate) of patients who required re-testing for competency more than 3 times was for EVAHEART®, DuraHeart®, HeartMate II ®, Jarvik2000®;0, 0, 4, 3 (0, 0, 8.7, 10.0%), respectively. Also, the rate of caregivers who required re-testing for competency more than 3 time was 0, 0, 5.8, 11.3%, respectively. The relationship between the results of the device handling test and the trail making test-B (TMT-B) was considered statistically significant (p=0.002), the sensitivity and specificity were 29.1, 95.5%, respectively. These results may suggest the possibility that training on the handling of iVADs can be efficiently conducted in reference to the outcome of TMT-B. However, the frequency of the device test required tends to depend on the types of iVADs that the patient receives. Our previous study showed that there was an association between the types of devices and the incidence rate of mistakes. Therefore, we strongly feel the importance of adapting fool proof and/or fault tolerant in designing the devices, thereby improving the usability for efficient training on the handling of iVADs.
