Archive September 2008
Preventable nosocomial infections
As from today Medicaid stop reimbursement for some reasonably preventable nosocomial infections. This article is another that describes the impact of this legislation. Graves, N. and McGowan, J.E. (2008) Nosocomial Infection, the Deficit Reduction Act, and Incentives for Hospitals. JAMA. 300(13), p.1577-1579. First 150 words of the article For every 100 patients admitted to US hospitals in [...]
Intraosseous device wins award
Vidacare Corp., the maker of the EZ-IO medical device, beat out 700 other entries to win The Wall Street Journal’s Eighth Annual Innovation Award Competition. San Antonio-based Vidacare’s EZ-IO was named the sole winner in the overall Gold category of the competition as well as the winner in the medical device category. Vidacare developed the EZ-IO device [...]
Cardinal spinoff company
Cardinal Health Inc. said Monday that it is spinning off its tech-focused clinical and medical products businesses into a separate public company in a move that will affect Cardinal’s 80-employee Creedmoor operation. The Granville County facility manufacturers components as part of Cardinal’s intravenous infusion business, which will become part of the new company. The new company will [...]
Antimicrobial needlefree
Baxter Healthcare Corporation today announced that it received 510(k) clearance for expanded labeling for the first antimicrobial needleless intravenous (IV) connector, V-Link Luer-activated device (LAD) with VitalShield protective coating. Launched earlier this year, V-Link with VitalShield has now been shown to kill at least 99.99 percent of six common pathogens known to cause catheter-related bloodstream infections. [...]
Intraosseous for resuscitation
Medgadget report on the fast1 intraosseous infuson system, reporting that “If the military medics and physicians I work with are right (and I think they are), Pyng is certainly living up to their goals and has become a routine lifesaver in Afghanistan and Iraq”. Click here for the full story on medgadget. Click here for the Fast1 [...]
IV safety boosted by grant
Sebasticook Valley Hospital has received a $50,000 grant to bolster its management of medications and patient safety. The grant is from the Maine Health Access Foundation, a health care organization that provides $5 million in grant and program funding each year. The hospital plans to use the grant for a Barcode Medication Administration Program. The automated [...]
Dual syringe technology
Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company, recently announced the acquisition of Infusive Technologies’ proprietary, patented, multi-chamber, sequential dose syringe technology. Sagent’s innovative, dual-chamber syringe enables the sequential administration of two separate intravenous (IV) medications with a single syringe push, thereby replacing two syringes with one. The benefits of this single delivery capability include increasing [...]
Safety syringe company report
The annual report of the Australian IV safety company Medigard has just been published. It makes an interesting read as it helps to explain the complexities of product development of safety syringes and needlefree device products. These issues are explained in the product development section of the document on page 6 (example below): “The fine tuning of the syringe [...]
Needlestick leads to fine
OSHA has cited Allcare Dental for alleged willful and serious violations of occupational health standards at its Nashua, N.H., dental office after an employee suffered a needlestick injury. The office faces $76,500 in proposed fines. OSHA’s inspection found that the office did not provide the injured employee with no-cost, post-exposure medical evaluation and follow-up, and did [...]
Prevention of line sepsis
Roundtable Summit to Formulate Recommendations for the Prevention of Line Sepsis with take place October 3rd 2008. Delegates will include representation from Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), The Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety, University HealthSystem Consortium and Allegheny Health System. “A Leadership Strategy for the Prevention of Line Sepsis” roundtable summit, supported [...]
Joint commission suggest ID caution
The new color-coding of ID bracelets has been quickly embraced by at least 20 states and endorsed by the American Hospital Association, the purple bands, typically embossed with the letters D.N.R. to reinforce the message, are meeting with some resistance. The nation’s leading hospital-accreditation agency, known as the Joint Commission, has expressed caution about the new [...]
IVTEAM discussion list
I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to the hundreds of IVTEAM members who subscribe to our email updates. I’m sure its of no surprise that you are part of a truly International IV community. To further benefit your membership, IVTEAM have launched a free email discussion list. The IVTEAM discussion list is moderated, private and secure. The [...]
Intravenous fluids infected
A doctor from a team investigating the weekend deaths of 13 newborns at a hospital in western Turkey said Monday that the deaths were a result of an infection spread by IV treatment, the private Dogan news agency reported. The babies — all of them premature — died late Saturday and early Sunday at Izmir’s Tepecik hospital. [...]
Struck off over sharps disposal
A 26 year old registered nurse from Welling, Kent has been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council
Central line bloodstream infection
Ranasinghe et al (2008) describe that healthcare worker education and training are essential to create standardization of aseptic care. They also state that continuous surveillance is necessary for identifying lapses in infection-control practices. Ranasinghe, J.S., Lee, A.J. and Birnbach, D.J. (2008) Infection associated with central venous or epidural catheters: how to reduce it? Current Opinion in [...]
Venipuncture pain in children
Spagrud et al (2008) examine pain and distress from needles in children undergoing blood sampling from central external venous lines, internalized ports and peripheral venipuncture. Spagrud, L.J., von Baeyer, C.L., Ali, K., Mpofu, C., Fennell, L.P., Friesen, K. and Mitchell, J. (2008) Pain, distress, and adult-child interaction during venipuncture in pediatric oncology: an examination of three [...]
Novel therapeutic drug monitoring
Cranfield University and Sphere Medical Holding PLC are to receive an investment of £322,000 from the Technology Strategy Board to develop a novel drug sensor which will improve the care of critically ill patients by ‘personalising’ their medication. [...]
Huber needle safety
This monograph describes some of the recent recommendations for safe handling of hazardous drugs as well as safety precautions from needlestick injuries in chemotherapy administration. Nurses administering chemotherapy are at risk for injuries caused by Huber needles. According to the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet), rebound needle injuries are on the rise and pose a high risk [...]
Intravenous device MRSA reduced
The latest quarterly figures on MRSA bloodstream infections, published by the Health Protection Agency today, show that the number of MRSA infections has fallen by 57% compared to the base level in 2003/4 when the target was set. Mike Farrar, Chief Executive of NHS North West, said: “We are taking healthcare associated infections very seriously. These [...]
CRBSI prevention program
Teleflex Medical today announced the launch of an infection-protection speaker program that will take
Hospitals report on CRBSI
San Juan Regional Medical Center is one of six New Mexico hospitals that are participating in the state Department of Health’s healthcare-associated infection pilot project. The hospitals will report data about healthcare-associated infections to the department, with the goal being reduction of healthcare-associated infections and their adverse effects on patients. The six hospitals began reporting “central-line associated” [...]
BBraun IV safety newsletter
This recently published BBraun IV safety newsletter is full of articles and features such as the article by Dr Mike Ashton, Consultant Gastroenterologist, at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, who highlights that even after 36 years of practice, accidental needlestick injuries can happen. Paula Ingram discusses her experience with NHS Lothian after the benefits of changing from a Teflon catheter to a Polyurethane catheter [...]
Hepatitis C closes dialysis centre
A New York dialysis center was shut down by the state Health Department and hundreds of patients were urged to be tested after at least one patient contracted hepatitis C from treatment at the center. The Health Department notified 657 patients of the Life Care Dialysis Center that they should be tested for both hepatitis B and [...]
Court orders transfusion
A woman who refused blood transfusions after attempting suicide was treated in hospital by direction of the High Court. Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe heard that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was recovering following treatment in a Dublin hospital. Ms Eileen Barrington, counsel for the Health Service Executive (HSE), said the court, in a [...]
Home parenteral nutrition
The Australasian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (AuSPEN) have published evidence based guidelines for home parenteral nutrition (HPN). Gillanders, L., Angstmann, K., Ball, P., Chapman-Kiddell, C., Hardy, G., Hope, J., Smith, R., Strauss, B. and Russell, D. (2008) AuSPEN clinical practice guideline for home parenteral nutrition patients in Australia and New Zealand. Nutrition. 24(10), p.998-1012. Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Evidence [...]
Zuragen Injection for CRBSI
Ash Access Technology, Inc. announced that the last patient enrolled in the AZEPTIC Trial for Zuragen(TM) Injection has completed the study. The AZEPTIC Trial was a randomized study evaluating the efficacy and safety of Zuragen(TM) Injection in reducing the incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) in patients requiring the use of a central venous catheter (CVCs) [...]
Reducing drug errors
Staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance have installed a new computer system they hope makes human error less likely. The $2.5 million system includes three components: so-called smart pumps that don’t allow nurses to program the wrong dosage in intravenous machines; a bulky robotlike machine that dispenses common drugs in the pharmacy with [...]
Transporting blood samples
Technology developed for war has been turned to the saving of lives. Engineers have converted uncrewed military aircraft into robotic carrier pigeons that could ferry medical samples from remote regions to labs for testing. The UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles) are designed to be launched from clinics and pilot themselves along a pre-programmed route to the nearest [...]
Needlestick injuries
The American Nurses Association (ANA) have announced the findings of the 2008 Study of Nurses’ Views on Workplace Safety and Needlestick Injuries, an independent nationwide survey of more than 700 nurses. According to the latest research, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. nurses say needlestick injuries and blood borne infections remain major concerns, and 55 percent [...]
Sven-Ivar Seldinger (1921-1998)
The Seldinger name is immortalized throughout healthcare due to his identification of the catheterization technique known around the world as the Seldinger technique. But who was Seldinger? Sven-Ivar Seldinger was born in the small town of Mora in Sweden in 1921. He was educated in local schools before studying medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. In 1975, [...]
Ethanol locks to prevent CRBSI
The use of 70% ethanol locks to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections in children is reviewed in this study by Mouw et al (2008). Mouw, E., Chessman, K., Lesher, A. and Tagge, E. (2008) Use of an ethanol lock to prevent catheter-related infections in children with short bowel syndrome. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 43(6), p.1025-1029. Abstract: BACKGROUND: Children [...]
INS webinar
With new federal regulations limiting reimbursements for hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) looming on the horizon, B. Braun Medical Inc., the Infusion Nurses Society (INS), and the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA), will host a Webinar series in September to equip nurses and hospital managers with best practices that can help prevent the spread of infections in their facilities. [...]
Accelerated seldinger technique
The core management team from Venetec International has reunited at Access Scientific, Inc. to launch The Wand(R) family of Micro-Access Safety Introducers. The Wand combines all components of the Modified Seldinger Technique into a unitary device designed for faster, safer, simpler over-wire vascular access. With built-in passive needlestick safety and patient-safety features such as the “fast [...]
PICC placement kit
Navilyst Medical, the manufacturer and global marketer of vascular access and fluid management medical devices, has launched new products just four weeks after the company’s introduction of its new corporate brand following the previously announced divestiture from Boston Scientific. They are: An Expanded PICC Convenience Kit program A dual-safety EZ Huber® Infusion Needle Set New Xcela® [...]
Intravenous therapy at hospice
Cancer patients will now be able to receive specialist IV treatment in the comfort of a Worcester (UK) hospice. In a partnership between St Richard’s Hospice and Worcestershire Royal Hospital, more cancer patients will receive specialist intravenous treatments from the charity. Patients can be seen for intravenous therapies, including infusions for bone pain and blood transfusions. Worcestershire [...]
IV tubing holder
Lenore Henning, a registered nurse, invented a product to hold and organize medical tubing. The device, named The Beata Clasp, keeps tubing in place and also helps patients to become involved in their care. DOTmed.com report that Henning’s invention has the ability to hold tubing in place on the bedrail and organize lines so that they [...]
Purple glove syndrome
According to its quarterly report, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating instances were Phenytoin injections led to a disorder known as Purple Glove Syndrome. In its report, the FDA did not say how many cases of phenytoin-related Purple Glove Syndrome it was investigating. But a 1998 study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic [...]
inadvertent arterial cannulation
Diana Levine was inadvertently administered Phenergan into an artery. Within weeks, doctors amputated her forearm and hand. The drug label had warned that hitting an artery could cause irreversible damage, but it did not specifically direct physicians to avoid delivering the drug with intravenous push injection — rather than free-flowing IV infusion. Levine sued, charging [...]
IV catheter obturator alert
Due to a manufacturing problem, there may be cracks and holes in the packaging of some obturators for Venflon™ cannulae, which could compromise sterility. The obturator protects the inner lumen of the catheter from coagulation and thrombus formation after discontinuation of infusion. The device in question is Venflon™ IV cannula obturator manufactured by BD. Product code numbers 394252 [...]
Clean hands save lives
On the 2nd September 2008 the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has reissued its Alert on hand hygiene to reinforce its importance as a significant factor in reducing infection in health. The guidance has been produced by the NPSA and applies to all NHS staff in England and Wales who have direct contact with patients. [...]
Chlorhexidine antisepsis
Lim and Kam (2008) review the pharmacology, microbiology, clinical applications and adverse effects of chlorhexidine. Lim, K.S. and Kam, P.C. (2008) Chlorhexidine-pharmacology and clinical applications. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 36(4), p.502-12. Abstract: Chlorhexidine is a widely used skin antisepsis preparation and is an ingredient in toothpaste and mouthwash. It is an especially effective antiseptic when combined with [...]
Biofilm and CRBSI
Raad et al (2008) describe the scientific efforts have been directed toward inhibiting bacterial growth by disrupting surface adherence and preventing biofilm production. Raad, I.I., Fang, X., Keutgen, X.M., Jiang, Y., Sherertz, R. and Hachem, R. (2008) The role of chelators in preventing biofilm formation and catheter-related bloodstream infections. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. 21(4), p.385-392. Abstract: [...]
AVA conference update
Marketwatch.com have reported that improvements in the prevention of catheter-related infections will be the prime focus at the annual conference of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) September 11-14 in Savannah, Ga. The conference comes on the eve of major changes in Medicare that will eliminate payments to hospitals that fail to prevent certain hospital-acquired infections. [...]
BBraun silver needlefree
FDAnews announced that BBraun Medical has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its silver-impregnated antibacterial luer access device to reduce potential catheter-related bloodstream infections. The Ultrasite device uses a controlled-release silver ion technology that reduces harmful bacteria, the company said. The product, which will be available later this year, combines needle-free access for reduced needlestick [...]
Living with a PICC line
This two-stage descriptive study looks at the the views of patients who are living with Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters (PICC). Molloy, D., Smith, L.N. and Aitchison, T. (2008) Cytotoxic chemotherapy for incurable colorectal cancer: living with a PICC-line. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 17(18), p.2398-407. Abstract: Aims. (i) To determine which aspects of living with a peripherally inserted central [...]
Catheter-related bloodstream infections
This study suggests that the number of lumens and site of access were independent risk factors for the development of Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections (CRBSI). Templeton, A., Schlegel, M., Fleisch, F., Rettenmund, G., Schobi, B., Henz, S. and Eich, G. (2008) Multilumen central venous catheters increase risk for catheter-related bloodstream infection: prospective surveillance study. Infection. 36(4), [...]
Peripheral cannulation
Researchers from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University presented a study at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester in which they suggested that a third of patients are cannulated unnecessarily. 350 patients entered the study – who were all treated in the acute medical assessment unit of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, 91% of patients had a short peripheral catheter [...]
Needlestick injury survey
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are running an online survey to find out peoples experiences of needlestick injuries. The RCN aim to use the results of the survey to help safeguard staff and patients. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete. When completed forms are submitted you will be able to submit an entry [...]
Central venous thrombosis
The incidence of PICC- related upper extremity venous thrombosis has been reported to be anywhere between 0% and 56%. This study attempts to suggest that the use of prophylactic anticoagulation may reduce thrombotic risks in PICC’s. The authors also suggest the importance of early ultrasound if thrombosis is suspected. Paauw, J.D., Borders, H., Ingalls, N., Boomstra, [...]
Electronic care record
GE healthcare have developed an application that integrates clinical and medical device data under one standard platform. The Centricity Enterprise Monitored Care application helps improve the quality of care by integrating all monitored care information into a single electronic record. The care record will allow data captured from devices such as monitors and ventilators to be [...]
Aseptic Non-Touch Technique
We reported in July 2008 that the Aseptic Non Touch Technique implementation team had announced the 1st National Conference on Aseptic Non Touch Technique (ANTT) on the 29th September 2008. This is now sold out. However, this is not all bad news, the team have announced a second date. If you did not manage to book a [...]
Congress on vascular access
The Vascular Access Society have announced the 6th International Congress on Vascular Access. The congress will take place in Rome (Italy) on April 20th to the 22nd 2009. Click here for more information.
Vascular access guidelines
The vascular access society have made available vascular access guidelines. These are aimed mainly at renal medicine. However, topics such as ‘placement and management of a tunneled catheter’, ‘management of central venous obstruction’ or ‘management of tunneled catheter infection’ should all be an interesting read for any intravenous practitioner. Click here for the full guidelines.
New sharps safety law
ohsonline.com report on a new state law that goes into effect today prohibiting the disposal of home-generated sharps waste in California residents’ trash or recycling containers and requiring that all such waste be transported to a collection center in an approved sharps container. Californians generate an estimated 400 million used sharps each year, many of which are [...]
