HMS phasing out - literature suggestions

Hi! This is a hard one. We want to try the Hemochron High Range ACT, but this doesn't provide Heparin concentration or protamine reversal like the HMS does.  Although our perfusionists use a protocol to make those determinations, the HMS has acted as a safety net. Would love to hear other suggestions!

Hello,
We are in the same boat and considering the Hemocron as a replacement for the HMS as well. Our Werfen sales rep sent the attached brochure to our perfusionist for review. At the moment, our perfusionist is choosing to continue to use the HMS's until they die. We have one primary and a backup, so we'll see how long they last! I'm also curious to know if anyone else out there was successful at getting their perfusionist to switch over. Thanks in advance!

GH100 Brochure.pdf

Our perfusionists will be using the HMS until it can't be fixed, same as Jaclyn. We use iSTAT for ACTs in the rest of the OR and hospital. Curious if anyone had any luck getting perfusionists to utilize iSTAT for their ACTs? Also, do we know for sure that Medtronic will not continue to have a stand alone ACT platform?

Same thing here.  We already have the iSTAT ACT but the perfusion group is not a fan and doesn't use it.  They are using the HMS until it dies.  We're adding the ROTEM Sigma to our ORs as an option though for tracing the curves.  It will require more "figuring out" to make it like for like, but the Perfusion team is preliminarily happy with the results they're seeing during our review.

In the same boat here. Our surgeons and perfusionists do not want to use the i-STAT that's already in-house so we will be moving to the Hemochron. We plan on using our HMS until they stop working but with supplies for the HMS getting spottier and spottier, it looks like the switch is going to happen much sooner than anticipated.

Our perfusionists did not want to switch either.  We do have Hemochrons in the Cath Lab.  In hopes that Medtronics finds another manufacturer for their motherboards, our CVOR purchased one new HMS which is service covered for 5 years.  We now have a total of 3.

FYI to all,  I spoke to a Medtronic's Rep specifically about this notice.  Dependent on your time of purchase, when your analyzers fail / break, Medtronic's may not guarantee they have the available parts to fix it.  If your contract is expired and your HMS Plus breaks... they may not be able to fix it, and you will not be able to purchase a replacement.
Metronics will still continue to produce the consumables for this system.  Our 3 HMS Plus analyzers have been very reliable to date.  Our CVOR is aware of this issue and that through attrition they will eventually lose this testing but it will not happen on the date Medtronic's guarantee of ability to fix it expires.  We already have another system that performs ACT testing but unfortunately the HPT and HDR tests don't appear to have replacement options.

We just recently replaced our HMS's in CVOR and then got the news.  Our last HMS's lasted 22-23 years, but the new ones we just bought won't last that long if Medtronic won't support them.  We use ISTAT ACT-Kaolin in all other areas of the hospital.  We will likely keep it the same with Perfusion, but it will be a struggle.  We are not using Hemochron's for 2 reasons 
1) Two different cartridges on that platform based on patient area with ACT result ranges = twice the work for POC and we just don't have enough people
2) In the past, there were issues in passing CAP surveys.  All to do with handling of the CAP specimen since it is so sensitive, but it became a risk for us with repeated failures.  ISTAT ACT-K does not have that issue.

Responding to Brian W.: My hospital has been using the standalone Medtronic ACT for many years. These are now all aging out and Medtronic is no longer making or supporting these instruments. We were able to get a couple of refurbished ones to pull us through until we get our Hemochrons, but they were very difficult to procure apparently. We are in the middle of doing a correlation study right now and expect to fully transition to the Hemochrons by the end of the year.