SAN DIEGO (May 28, 2009) - Awarepoint Corporation, a provider of ZigBee-based real-time location systems (RTLS) for hospitals, today announced it has completed independent clinical testing for its T2S sterilizable RTLS tag. Independent testing has been performed by SPSmedical for decontamination and mechanical cleaning, Cytotoxicity, steam pre-vacuum efficacy, and STERRAD® Sterilization Systems including use in wrapped trays and Tyvek® Peel Pouches. Awarepoint chose SPSmedical because they are the largest sterilizer testing laboratory in North America. SPSmedical subjected Awarepoint's T2S RTLS tag to product-specific cleaning, sterilization and disinfection procedures for reusable devices, including:
1 Decontamination and Mechanical Cleaning
This validates the effectiveness of decontamination and cleaning process when the tag is subjected to a mechanical washer.
2 Cytotoxicity
Samples from the tested Awarepoint T2S Tag met the USP and ISO 10993-5 requirements and are considered non-toxic under the test conditions employed.
3 Pre-vacuum Steam Sterilization Study
Performance testing validated the recommended cycle parameters are safe and effective when sterilizing the Awarepoint T2S sterilizable Tag per AAMI/ISO guidelines.
4 STERRAD® Sterilization Systems
Performance testing confirms the recommended cycle parameters are safe and effective for use when sterilizing the Awarepoint T2S sterilizable Tags in a hospital STERRAD® 100S sterilization full cycle. The protocol for STERRAD® testing included use in the wrapped tray and Tyvek® Peel Pouch.
All original reports are on file at Awarepoint's corporate office in San Diego, California.
"By simulating clinical use, Awarepoint has established a reliable product that can be cleaned, disinfected and sterilized between patient use," said Bryant Broder, Senior Product Manager at Skytron. "This was crucial in Skytron's decision to offer this product to our hospital customers, and gives us the only independently clinically tested sterilizable RTLS tag on the market today."
Medical Instrumentation Tray Management
Medical instrumentation trays are critical to patient care, and designed for reuse only after adequate cleaning and sterilization. Traditionally, RTLS is used for enterprise-wide hospital asset management - from wheelchairs and gurneys, to IV pumps and pulse oximeters. To date, medical instrumentation trays have been left out as an entire RTLS category, as active (battery powered) RTLS asset tags could not survive the cleaning and sterilization process. Identifying the location and status of instrumentation trays reduces surgical case delays and cancellations, increases staff efficiency and provides usage information to better manage replacement cost budgets. According to Valerie Fritz, Awarepoint's senior vice president of marketing, "The hard dollar return on investment (ROI) for hospitals using RTLS to manage instrumentation trays is vast. Initial calculations at University of California San Diego Medical Center anticipate nearly $500,000 in cost savings and revenue impact in the first year alone."
Patient Tracking and Workflow Automation
Many savvy hospital administrators are using RTLS to provide patient tracking and workflow automation processes; however anything the patient touches, or that may touch the patient, must be clean to avoid the risk of cross contamination and prevent the transfer of pathogens. Awarepoint's T2S sterilizable tag is an extremely cost effective solution for patient tracking applications. When a patient is ready to be released from the hospital, staff snips off the bracelet/tag, discards the bracelet, and saves the tag for sterile processing and reuse. "This process eliminates the tag as a potential contributor to one of the most preventable patient safety issues - hospital acquired infections," Fritz added.
STERRAD® is a registered trademark of Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP), division of Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. Tyvek® is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company or its affiliates.
About Awarepoint
Awarepoint's real-time location systems (RTLSs) include its real-time awareness platform, firmware, active RFID tags, sensors, and bridges. Awarepoint's technologies collect raw sensor data and transform that data into high-value positioning information that can be used to add location awareness to a variety of healthcare, manufacturing, security and other applications. Requiring no hard wiring, Awarepoint's "plug and track" ZigBee-based wireless sensor network is a fully managed service, including hardware, software, remote monitoring and maintenance. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California and serves its hospital customers across the United States through an exclusive distribution partnership with Skytron. Track us down at www.awarepoint.com.
About Skytron
Skytron provides innovative and efficient medical equipment solutions for a variety of healthcare settings and hospital departments, and is recognized across North America for the highest quality products, extensive product menu and exceptional customer service. Since 1972, Skytron has remained true to their commitment of "customer service first, everything else will follow." For more information on Skytron's quality products, visit www.skytron.us.
ZigBee: Wireless Control that Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, costeffective low power, wirelessly networked monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee alliance is a rapidly growing non-profit industry consortium of leading semiconductor manufacturers, technology providers, OEMs, and end-users worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at http://www.ZigBee.org
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