Supporting Patients in Extraordinary Times
Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is the cornerstone of treatment in patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI), one of many complications affecting COVID-19 patients. Throughout the pandemic, Baxter has been doing all it can to help meet the increased need for CRRT products, including filter sets used to remove fluid and uremic toxins from the patient’s blood during CRRT before the cleaned blood is returned to the body.
One of Baxter's CRRT filter sets, the ST Set, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in April 2022 after obtaining FDA Emergency Use Authorization in August 2020.
Pamela, senior marketing manager, Acute Therapies at Baxter, talks about her role in helping to bring CRRT products to patients throughout the pandemic.
Q: Tell us about your role at Baxter.
Pamela: For many years, I worked in fundraising and advocacy for non-profit healthcare organizations. I joined Baxter in 2009, and currently oversee our portfolio of filter sets and catheters as part of the global Acute Therapies marketing team. Working at Baxter allows me to make a direct and measurable impact on the patients we serve, which is something I really valued during my time working with non-profits. I feel very lucky to be part of a company that does such meaningful work.
Q: Baxter's filter sets have played an important role in making CRRT products more available during the COVID-19 pandemic. What was your role in helping to bring these products to clinicians and patients?
Pamela: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a significant increase in the number of patients treated with CRRT in the intensive care unit. My role was to help determine how Baxter could support hospitals in managing the surging demand for CRRT products. We worked with the FDA to pursue and obtain Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) for several of our products used in CRRT, including the ST Set, which played an important role in helping to make more CRRT sets available in the U.S. I was also involved in creating training materials to help customers get acquainted with our EUA products as quickly as possible during an extremely chaotic time.
Q: How does it feel to have helped bring CRRT products to patients during such a critical time?
Pamela: In short, very satisfying. There are few things more rewarding than knowing that the work you do helps critically ill patients and their care teams. This is always gratifying, but even more so in extraordinary circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone at Baxter was focused on doing their best to help patients, and that was inspiring.
Q: What do you like best about working at Baxter?
Pamela: I get to work with smart, talented, caring people who always put patients first and embrace our mission to save and sustain lives.