Denise Macklin, BSN, RNC, representing the research team of Dr. Cynthia C. Chernecky Ph.D., RN, AOCN, FAAN, Dr. Jennifer Waller, Ph.D., both from Georgia Health Sciences University; and Dr. William Jarvis M.D., Jason & Jarvis Associates, exhibited a poster at the recent APIC 2011 (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) conference in Baltimore, titled "Clinical Comparisons of Split Septum, Positive and Negative Mechanical Valve Intravenous Connectors to an Intraluminal Protection Connector on Infection Rates." This comparative effectiveness study shows the success of RyMed Technologies' InVision-Plus® Intraluminal Protection System (www.rymedtech.com) versus all IV connector classes including split septum, negative and positive. The APIC is the largest annual gathering of infection preventionists in the world.
As part of the national health care reform debate, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) uses Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) to rigorously evaluate the impact of different options, treatments or approaches to a given condition or problem. The goal of CER is to improve outcomes by developing and communicating evidence-based information to the health care community, including patients, providers and decision-makers about the effectiveness of various treatments compared to others. This study method is strengthened when a large random sample is used and one change in practice is made. This study included over 122,000 catheter days of aggregate data from 8 states including all U.S. demographic regions and different clinical settings including ICU, SICU, house-wide, inpatient oncology and long-term acute care. Participants in the study reported that a combined 128 infections were prevented according to the data collected, amounting to approximately $6.2 million in savings based on accepted infection costs. These institutions had similar care and maintenance practices in place.
The conclusion of the study supports other published research that shows a significantly higher bloodstream infection (BSI) rate when split septum, negative or positive pressure mechanical valve intravenous connectors were used. However, this study goes on to show a dramatic decrease in BSI when the InVision-Plus® Intraluminal Protection System is instead used. BSIs can cause treatment delays, add time to nursing care, increase costs, increase mortality and decrease quality of life for the patient and family.
"Considering each infection costs hospitals an average of $35,000, this study should be an eye-opener for the healthcare industry as infection prevention and cost savings are so important," said Dr. Chernecky. "We believe this study is the first multi-center CER study that includes IV connectors from all luer-activated classes since Dr. Jarvis published his 2009 article in Clinical Infectious Diseases on Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) associated with both negative and positive displacement connectors."
"This study is highly important because is corroborates significant clinical findings of decreased infection rates to other in-vitro findings made from previous studies on the InVision-Plus®," said Dana Wm. Ryan, President & CEO, RyMed Technologies, Inc. "It shows that design features matter and simply changing to the InVision-Plus® allows for a very positive outcome."
Catheter-related bloodstream infection (CR-BSI) continues to be one of the most frequent hospital acquired infections (HAIs) reported by hospitals nationwide. It has been reported that a patient that develops a CR-BSI could die up to 25% of the time. As a result, it is logical to conclude that by reducing CR-BSIs, RyMed's InVision-Plus® technology with zero fluid displacement saves lives and reduces cost.
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