Hospital Reports on POWERWAND Show Improved Patient Safety and Financial Advantages
Extended-Dwell Midline Catheter to Be Highlighted in AVA Presentations
Dowling & Dennis Public RelationsLiz Dowling, 415-388-2794
Use of an extended-dwell peripheral IV catheter to reduce costs and increase patient safety and comfort will be the subject of several poster and oral presentations at the upcoming Annual Scientific Meeting of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA). The meeting will be held Oct. 16-19 in San Antonio, Texas.
The presentations encompass use of a power-injectable, extended-dwell peripheral IV called the POWERWAND® at three different hospitals.
The POWERWAND can be used both for the administration of fluids/medications and for withdrawing blood for diagnostic tests. It is the first and only power-injectable peripheral IV catheter capable of delivering continuous IV therapy for the patient’s entire length of hospital stay.
The device may be left in place for up to 29 days per its FDA clearance. The catheter, which at 3.1 inches in length is technically a midline, is inserted using the proprietary .
A poster from Las Palmas Medical Center (El Paso, Texas) will detail how the hospital adopted POWERWAND as an alternative to PICCs for patients who did not need riskier central lines. Las Palmas hoped to reduce the number of patients with PICCs because those lines have a much higher rate of bloodstream infections than midlines.
Las Palmas also hoped to reduce costs by eliminating unnecessary central lines, because central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are expensive to treat, are typically not reimbursed, and add significantly to patients’ length-of-stay.
The POWERWAND substantially reduced CLABSIs and occlusions at Las Palmas, completely eliminating them in the first five months of 2012. During the same period, by comparison, three CLABSIs and three occlusions occurred in PICC lines.
The hospital projected annual savings of $233,157 due to lower material costs and avoided infection-treatment costs.
A second poster will describe how Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital-Fort Worth achieved both clinical and financial improvements by using the POWERWAND in place of a conventional peripheral IV (PIV) when appropriate. The device helped the hospital meet its goals in multiple ways:
* It increased patient comfort and nursing efficiency because PIVs often require multiple needlesticks, and the midline had a high rate of first-attempt success.
* It improved patient safety by eliminating CLABSIs during the trial period.
* It increased revenues for the hospital’s IV team by increasing billable procedures 10%. (PIVs are not billable for a PICC team but midlines are.)
* It saved material costs and further increased nursing efficiency because 79% of the midlines lasted through the completion of therapy, and nurses were able draw blood through 84% of the midlines up to the time of catheter removal.
The POWERWAND will also be the subject of two oral presentations by Teresa Darst, RN, BSN, VA-BC, Director of Vascular Access at Huguley Memorial Medical Center, in Burleson, Texas.
On Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 2:15 p.m., Darst will lead a breakout session titled “Initial Outcomes Using a Novel, Power-Injectable 3.1” Midline Catheter.” On Thursday, Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m. she will offer the Showcase Presentation “Elevating the Standard of Care in Peripheral Venous Access: The POWERWAND.”
Access Scientific will be at Booth 207 in the Exhibit Hall of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
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Access Scientific, Inc., a privately held medical device company, is dedicated to providing a safer standard of vascular access through its proprietary WAND® technology. ASI’s team of seasoned device-company veterans is focused on improving patient and healthcare worker safety through the combination of superb design/engineering and exacting quality assurance. The WAND was developed by the same Venetec International team that invented StatLock® catheter stabilization devices and made them the worldwide standard.
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