StatLock to Include Needlestick Safety Advisory.Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 22, 2002 Venetec International, makers of StatLock safety securement devices, announced today it would be the first company in the world to routinely include a needlestick-safety advisory to clinicians, as part of StatLock's standard packaging. The needlestick safety advisory, formally known as the "Notification to Clinicians on Sharps Injury Prevention," was created by NAPPSI, the National Alliance for the Primary Prevention of Sharps Injuries. NAPPSI is a national non-profit organization A non-profit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. composed of clinician organizations representing thousands of healthcare workers, hundreds of individual clinicians and more than 20 manufacturers of primary-prevention products for needlestick safety. Primary prevention refers to technologies and practices that reduce or eliminate the use of sharp implements in healthcare settings. An estimated 800,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers suffer accidental needlesticks in the course of administering medical care in the United States every year. Sharps injuries can lead to serious infections with Hepatitis C Hepatitis C Definition Hepatitis C is a form of liver inflammation that causes primarily a long-lasting (chronic) disease. Acute (newly developed) hepatitis C is rarely observed as the early disease is generally quite mild. , HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. and other potentially fatal conditions. By eliminating the sharp, primary prevention eliminates the infection risk of accidental sharps injury to healthcare workers. Venetec's decision to include the Clinician Advisory in packaging for every StatLock expands the company's commitment to protecting healthcare workers against accidental needlesticks, while also informing them of the benefits of primary prevention. "Our company helped to highlight primary prevention as part of the safety marketplace," said Steve Bierman, M.D., Venetec's CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and medical director. "Moreover, StatLock is one of the most widely used primary-prevention products available to protect healthcare workers. Venetec is doing its part by including the Clinician Advisory with hundreds of thousands of StatLock products used by healthcare workers every year." StatLock safety securement devices provide primary prevention against needlesticks, by needlesticks by eliminating the need to use suture suture /su·ture/ (soo´cher) 1. sutura. 2. a stitch or series of stitches made to secure apposition of the edges of a surgical or traumatic wound. 3. to apply such stitches. 4. to secure catheters and medical tubes that are used to treat patients. StatLock also reduces needlestick exposure when it replaces tape for catheter securement, thereby cutting unnecessary catheter restarts by more than 70 percent. Venetec estimates that if StatLock were employed nationwide, the device would, by reducing the epidemic of unscheduled catheter restarts, eliminate approximately 100 million IV needles from the hazard stream. Venetec International founded NAPPSI as part of its commitment to healthcare worker safety. Since the organization's creation two years ago, numerous other companies, individuals and organizations have joined the campaign to make primary-prevention safety measures safety measures, n.pl actions (e.g., use of glasses, face masks) taken to protect patients and office personnel from such known hazards as particles and aerosols from high-speed rotary instruments, mercury vapor, radiation exposure, anesthetic and more available in the healthcare workplace. NAPPSI has petitioned the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, n.pr an institute of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is responsible for assuring safe and healthful working conditions and for developing standards of safety and health. (NIOSH NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, see there NIOSH Recommendations for Safety & Health Standards Agent NIOSH REL*/OSHA PEL† Health effects ) and other leading medical and safety organizations to broadly publish the Clinician Advisory, as a way of alerting doctors and nurses to the value of both primary and secondary prevention. The advisory has already been endorsed by one of the nation's leading infection-control specialists, as well as the Infusion Nurses Society and other NAPPSI members such as the National Alliance of Vascular Access vascular access Clinical medicine The ability to enter the vascular system; the ease with which the vascular system can be entered for administering therapy or obtaining blood for testing Nurses (NAVAN), and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Examples of primary prevention include catheter securement devices, oral vaccines instead of injectables, laser scalpels, and surgical glues instead of blades and suture. NAPPSI also supports the use of secondary prevention measures, such as retractable re·tract v. re·tract·ed, re·tract·ing, re·tracts v.tr. 1. To take back; disavow: refused to retract the statement. 2. needles, which offer laudable protection, though they do not entirely eliminate risk. To view the full text of NAPPSI's proposed Notification to Clinicians, and for more information about needlestick safety, access www.NAPPSI.org. StatLock is a custom-designed, adhesive-backed pad that has an integrated anchor for connecting the pad to a catheter assembly. Venetec International holds an intellectual property portfolio of several dozen patents and has agreements for StatLock usage by many healthcare organizations, including Kaiser Permanente, Premier Inc., and the Veterans Health Administration. StatLock is an integral part of catheter insertion trays made by most major manufacturers and is used in hundreds of individual healthcare facilities, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. The main campus is located at 1275 York Avenue, between 67th and 68th Streets, with other locations in New , Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Both an international and regional referral center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and and the Cleveland Clinic. For more information, call 800/833-3895 or access www.Venetec.com. |
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