InnoScot Health and Openhouse ready for launch of emergency Surgical bag at Retrieval Conference

InnoScot Health will be exhibiting at the Retrieval Conference in Glasgow next week alongside licence partner Openhouse to mark the launch of the new Surgical SCRAM™ with the creator of the successful SCRAM™ portfolio among the speakers.

After a three-year absence, Retrieval will take place on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 April at the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel.

The UK’s national and prehospital critical care transfer conference is organised by the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS).

Retrieval session topics this year include major incidents, COVID pandemic retrieval, high performance teams, blood transfusion, and paediatric and neonatal retrieval, as well as speakers, including SCRAM™ (Structured CRitical Airway Management) portfolio co-creator Paul Swinton, National Education Lead for the Scottish Air Ambulance Service.

Surgical SCRAM™ was co-created by Paul and Advanced Paramedic in Critical Care, Stian Mohrsen. Using the same design principles that led to the creation of the SCRAM™ portfolio, they have developed a tool specifically tailored to meet the requirements of resuscitative emergency surgical procedures, with aims including a reduction in cognitive load and performance improvement.

After conducting a survey of pre-hospital critical care services in several European countries to determine the standard equipment used during emergency surgical procedures, such as thoracotomies and resuscitative hysterotomies, Paul and Stian created a prototype of a standardised layout.

The layout was then rigorously tested through various methods, including bench-top interaction, simulation, and gathering user feedback at the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service base in Glasgow.

Furthermore, throughout the testing and iteration process, critical care clinicians provided continuous feedback, allowing Surgical SCRAM™ to better meet the needs of pre-hospital emergency surgery.

The portfolio now extends to nine different high-performance solutions for critical care and retrieval medicine in both the hospital and prehospital settings. SCRAM™ is being used by high performance teams globally.

Research on the Adult and Paediatric variants has shown that this innovative approach to emergency airway management and tracheal intubation significantly reduces intervention time, results in fewer procedural errors, and reduces cognitive load.

The SCRAM™ portfolio – proudly manufactured and distributed by Openhouse Products with global partners – has expanded from the original Adult variation to now include Paediatric and Tactical variants.

The portfolio has been supported through development and commercialisation by NHS partner InnoScot Health which will be exhibiting at the event, showcasing its ability to identify, protect, develop, and commercialise healthcare innovations to improve patient care by helping to bring new ideas from healthcare professionals to life.

InnoScot Health has received and evaluated over 2,200 innovative ideas to date, successfully accelerating a range of medical devices, products, and technologies for use in on-scene emergency settings, hospitals, and care homes, both in Scotland and around the world.

The InnoScot Health website encourages health and social care staff to submit ideas through its easy, intuitive submission form or online consultations option.

Project Manager at InnoScot Health, Marianne Murphy (pictured) said: “We’re delighted to be back at Retrieval and to be able to reengage in-person with the national prehospital and emergency retrieval community.

“The event is a great opportunity for us, not only to communicate the support and expertise we can offer to those with innovative ideas, but also to showcase key success stories such as the SCRAM™ portfolio. What started as an idea from Air Ambulance Paramedics, is now a commercially successful product range, and continues to expand for a wide spectrum of emergency scenarios, including its new Surgical variant, representing another innovative addition.

“We will be present on both days of Retrieval and all are very welcome to come and visit our stand to learn more or have an informal chat while also seeing new SCRAM™ additions in action.”

Paul Swinton will be speaking on Friday 28 on the topic of ‘Equipment Design for Performance’ as part of an ‘Optimising Performance’ session taking place from 2.15-3.15pm.

Paul said: “At Retrieval, we are inviting you to learn how the SCRAM™ portfolio aims to enhance the performance, and reduce the cognitive load, of staff in critical situations – when getting it right first time really matters.

“Systemisation, standardisation, cognitive offloading, human factors, good governance, and a focus on process improvement through design are at the core of its success.

“Collaboration is key to innovation and it continues to play a crucial role in the evolution of SCRAM™. I collaborated recently with Professor Scott Weingart to create Resus SCRAM™ and CRASH Rx SCRAM™, specifically catering to institutions that use video laryngoscopy. With Stian Mohrsen's help, we have now developed Surgical SCRAM™ – a first of its kind, brain-friendly tool designed for emergency surgical procedures for performance enhancement.

“I believe that my own knowledge – and that of all those I have collaborated with across the SCRAM™ portfolio – married to the expertise of InnoScot Health, has made for these strong new additions.”