Health care is a highly complex system and this is particularly true for critical care. In the hectic hospital environment where patients often hover between life and death, clinicians are pressured to make the right clinical decisions while dealing with multiple complex devices.

In addition, massive overtime by clinical staff is common:

• A study by Scott showed that in 86% of the shifts, ICU nurses worked overtime – on average almost an hour longer (Scott LD, et al. J Nurs Adm. 2006 Feb;36(2):86-95)
• Another US study showed that 30 to 50% of residents in postgraduate year 1 and 2 worked more than 80 hours a week (Baldwin DC et al. Acad Med. 2003;78:1154-1164.).

In the ICU, ventilation is an important part of the clinician's daily routine. A study in an ICU in Israel showed that tasks related to patient’s breathing require most activities by ICU staff (Donchin et al. Crit Care Med; 1995;23;294–300).

Superior performance in complex environments means that intelligent ventilators: 

• Free clinicians from routine tasks, so there’s more time for the important aspects of patient care
• Provide intuitive, simple user interfaces requiring minimal training and facilitating interpretion of complex data
• Promote continuous learning through device features and through simplified formal training