Managing medical gases is a complex and often overlooked part of healthcare, but digital solutions are beginning to change that. From improving patient safety at home to streamlining the way hospitals manage sensitive data, technology is transforming how medical gases are handled. At the EIGA Winter Summit 2025, speakers explored how better data management and digital tools can improve both patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
Daniele Pirovano, Head of Digital Transformation at SOL Group, highlighted a reality that often gets overlooked: medical gases, particularly oxygen, aren’t just used in hospitals. “We have around two million people in home oxygen therapy in Europe, and most of them are, let’s say, very often technologically impaired,” he said.
Managing oxygen at home isn’t just a technical challenge – it’s also an emotional one. “Apart from being complex on a technical point of view and a safety point of view, we have to consider that patients feel a lot of emotional weight.” Many don’t fully understand their therapy, making them passive participants in their own treatment.
To change that, digital tools are being developed to make life easier for patients. Pirovano described an app designed to help them manage their therapy more confidently. “We created an app for the patient, a digital solution to empower them, to educate them, and to try to manage,” he explained.
The app provides personalised information on oxygen therapy, helping users understand their treatment and reduce the risk of mistakes. “Patients with oxygen therapy can also use a mechanical ventilator, or things that are connected to the patient,” he added. The goal is simple: give people the right information at the right time so they can take control of their own care.
Digital solutions provide safety checklists, videos demonstrating safe practices, and daily tips and training. ©SOL
A big challenge is making sure patients use their equipment correctly. Oxygen therapy can feel overwhelming, and mishandling it can be dangerous. To tackle this, the app includes easy-to-follow visual guides. “We have the same approach. So sketches that explain very well how to use the device. In this case, the mask, how to clean it, how to properly handle it.”
There are also instructional videos covering things like positioning cylinders safely and avoiding fire hazards. “We have to remember that our patients, like people with oxygen therapy, can go on boats, can go overseas. And so they cannot put the oxygen cylinder in the trunk of the car,” he pointed out.
Beyond the technical side of things, the app also helps tackle something that’s often ignored: the emotional side of home therapy. Many patients feel isolated, which can lead to them not following their treatment properly.
The app includes a communication feature that connects them with healthcare professionals when they need help. “We integrated psychological support modules… where our professionals are explaining well how to behave.”
While digital tools are helping patients at home, hospitals are dealing with a different challenge: managing huge amounts of medical gas data while staying compliant with strict regulations.
Clara Iriarte, Legal Manager, and Justino Flores, Healthcare Operations Manager, both from Nippon Gases España, spoke about the difficulties hospitals face when it comes to handling sensitive information. “We separate the exchange that hospitals use for roads, because the roads are different. The first road is provided to exchange data for commercial activities… The second part of the information that will change in the hospital, regulatory, and there are hospital medical products, a medical device,” Flores explained. Hospitals process vast amounts of regulatory data on medical gases, installations, and usage, and making sense of it all isn’t easy.
Jose Luis Cantarero, Eng. & Maintenance Manager at Gregorio Maranon Hospital Madrid, highlighted the need for a unified digital system to make this process more manageable. “It will be very, very important… to simplify the process, so that we can handle a lot of data.” In many regions, medical gas data isn’t standardised, which creates major inefficiencies.
“Different names with different units… it’s very important to have this information.” Standardising data across healthcare systems would mean smoother hospital operations and better patient safety.
Managing sensitive medical data comes with challenges, from security risks to fragmented systems – standardisation is key to ensuring efficiency and compliance in healthcare.
Looking ahead, AI is expected to play a bigger role in medical gas management. “So the future is to get AI-driven solutions, a unified platform for all this kind of information,” Cantarero said. AI could help hospitals predict demand, automate compliance checks, and improve patient monitoring.
But while the technology has plenty of potential, security concerns remain. “It’s really important now for the members to ensure and to save the sensitive information,” one speaker pointed out. As hospitals rely more on digital systems, keeping patient data safe is more important than ever.
Whether it’s helping home oxygen patients feel more confident or making hospital data systems more efficient, the takeaway is clear: digitalisation is transforming the sector and medical gases are becoming much smarter.
