Midbrook Medical presents at the 59th AORN Congress in New Orleans – Monday, March 26, 2012 – Wednesday, March 28, 2012 at booth #5829.
Product Managers were onsite to discuss the following featured products:
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Once again it was great to attend the Spring APIC Program. It was well organized and received by its membership. Renowned speakers such as Gina Pugliese RN, MS, Vice President, Safety Institute, Premier Healthcare Alliance presented a startling presentation demonstrating just how far backwards some of our practices have gone in a misguided attempt for cost containment. Examples of reusing syringes, attempting to pull more doses from single use vials and the resulting spread of such pathogens as Hepatitis-C, HIV, and a spike in Hepatitis B being reported and under investigation across the country.
Another remarkable speaker from Spain was Inam Soria, PhD. She was an enthusiastic expert in the field of Research. She made “Evidence Based Infection Prevention” entirely engaging! She focused on outcomes and helped us to understand and describe at least 4 types of clinical study designs; critically evaluate clinical data and extract relevant information to a particular practice.
It was a day of connecting with old friends and new; education and a time to share our current experiences together in the effort to improve quality of care and reduce infections.
Notes from Sam Hickson, Midbrook Medical Healthcare Network Director:
“The APIC – Greater Detroit Spring Conference offered a myriad of products and information designed to address the needs and desires of the attendees to enhance their own positions within the healthcare spectrum by providing knowledge and tools to help reduce the scourge of healthcare acquired infections (HAIs), which are so prevalent in healthcare settings these days. Vendors presented their products with scores of devices and methodologies designed to attack infections and issues of disinfection quandaries in their individual niches.
Presentations at the conference ranged from methods of evaluating research to providing wellness tips for the busy professional. Of particular interest was a presentation provided by Mark Stibich, PhD revolving around “Automated Approaches to environmental Disinfection.” This particular subject is also a focus of Midbrook Medical. Automation of disinfection and sterilization processes is a must for the future of the healthcare industry as a whole. Reduction and elimination of HAI’s will ultimately only be achieved by the design and implementation of automated processes. Removal of the human factor (not oversight) will produce valid and reliable results in this essential sphere of healthcare. Reduction of human errors will necessarily play a large role in the future of infection control.”
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If you walk through the unmarked hallways in the historic Bulfinch Building within Massachusetts General Hospital you might stumble upon the Ether Dome. This room served as the operating room 1821 through 1867. In 1846 the first public demonstration of the use of inhaled ether as a surgical anesthetic was performed here.
It was a miraculous moment entering a new world without surgical pain. One can still feel the intensity within those walls of the amphitheater; conjuring up the images and sounds of patients prior to anesthesia – enduring amputations and other procedures while fully conscious.
During the Summer of Fear in 1945 Rockford, Illinois suffered the highest number of casualties amidst the great polio epidemic. In a four month period, 382 patients were treated in Winnebago County, 36 died, most of them children. Children were isolated and not allowed to swim or play. Schools were closed, Iron Lung machines were brought in and planes flew over Rockford, spraying the city with the insecticide DDT in an attempt to wipe out the polio “bug.” No one really knew how to prevent or cure polio, or what caused it.
It was later discovered that polio is caused by a contagious virus that spreads by direct contact with contaminated saliva or feces. The disease has essentially been eradicated in the United States since a childhood vaccine was introduced in 1955 by Dr. Jonas Salk and perfected in 1961 by Dr. Albert Sabin.
What are today’s medical breakthroughs? Who can be spared from the current threats to healthcare issues? Could it be the threat within our own hospitals, clinics, Long Term Care Facilities and Out Patient Surgical Centers in the form of Hospital Acquired Infections? It is time we implement available technology to address a devastation that is preventable. By developing and utilizing products that can reduce or eradicate the transmission of infectious organisms within the healthcare setting we are on the verge of such a breakthrough. The technology is within our grasp. The remaining challenge is to change our processes and our cultural ideas of what is acceptable.
On March 14, 2012 Experts from the National Patient Safety Foundation addressed a group of Hospital Executives. The group was focused on the relationship between quality outcomes and operating an efficient facility.
During an address to the forum, John Nance, a founding member of the National Patient Safety Foundation, “encouraged hospital leaders to avoid what he considered the “most dangerous phrase in health care” — “that’s the way we’ve always done this.”
Even though we can be ‘asleep’ when our surgeries are being performed with excellent professionals and protected airways…are we safe?
One day we will look back at the rate of Hospital Acquired Infections we experience today and wonder why we ‘sprayed the OR’ with chemicals that do not kill certain pathogens and the over use of antibiotics which have a direct correlation to the rise in Multi Drug Resistant Pathogens…only time will tell how our future will be written. Anti-microbial Stewardship, new products to eliminate the threat of danger from HAI’s? What new discoveries will we make?
Visit our website at midbrookmedical.com Take a glimpse into products available “Today”… Please do your part to help bring these technologies into the norm and, in doing so, create a new chapter in the reality of safe medical care.
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This week has been designated “National Patient Safety Week”. It is near and dear to my heart. All week long there have been reports and posts from many organizations. Some of my favorite advocates have written moving and mindful articles about this most important subject. That being said, where exactly are we in the ‘State of Healthcare’ as it relates to patient safety?
To sum up my thoughts from this week I am posting a few links:
“Posts from Pronovost” drove the point home when he discussed courage. He described the first time a famous singer, Susan Boyle, walked onto a stage in the UK. He states that she was “wearing a frumpy dress, over weight and awkward”. I had never seen the performance of this amazing woman. I admittedly felt uncomfortable watching the video clip, especially as the people in the audience mocked her. Finally she did what she knew she could do, she used her voice and Everything changed in a few seconds. I found myself sitting in front of my computer with tears rolling down my face. Her courage was remarkable and as many of you know she went on to become famous in her own right.
http://armstronginstitute.blogs.hopkinsmedicine.org/
We all have a voice. Sometimes we are afraid to use it until something or someone inspires us to do so.
Ten years ago The Joint Commission began a campaign called, “Speak Up!”
http://www.jointcommission.org/speak_up_posters/
It has grown and become familiar in the hospital setting. What amazed me then and now is that so many patients and families do not realize or understand it IS OK to ask questions. Everyone benefits and outcomes can be improved with patients and families being part of the healthcare team.
It is OK to be a partner in your own healthcare and OK to ask hospital staff to wash their hands. It is also OK to ask a doctor what medicine is being prescribed for you, what side effects to watch for, and when to call for help. The Joint Commission has a poster for children in their campaign (see link above) encouraging children to ASK questions.
Even as this information on advocacy and making hospitals safer has been in the forefront of the healthcare media, the CDC posted its ‘Vital Signs’ Report on the ever growing threat of Clostridium Difficile.
http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hai/
http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/organisms/cdiff/Cdiff_infect.html
For those of you who do not know what Clostridium Difficile is – it will be well worth your time to check out the link and educate yourself about the threat of this little infectious monster. The report indicates the pathogen is not just in Acute Care Hospitals, but in Physician Offices, Long Term Care Facilities i.e. Nursing Homes and Out Patient Surgery Centers. These are places we all visit at one time or another. It puts us all at risk.
So what do we say?
WE continue to use our voices to gain traction, start the snowball and get the word out. We have products at Midbrook Medical that can save lives. Explore the website; watch the video clip of the Tempest in action. Be the Voice in your facility to ask for help… “Speak Up” because it is OK to Ask the hard questions!
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Word is finally getting out in the media that there is a real problem with dirty surgical instruments. Google the keywords – “surgical tools”, “dirty” and “infections”. Take a few minutes, or hours and click on the links to read the heartbreaking stories within the postings and personal comments of hundreds of people who have been affected as patients, loved ones and workers within the healthcare industry. It is disturbing enough to give rise to strong emotions and a ‘Call for Action’.
While the industry at large is beginning to grapple with the need for updated standards of clean and the processes necessary to achieve these goals, Midbrook Medical has been at the forefront and deeply involved in the creation of an effective, cost-saving and reliable system that is a revolutionary advancement in our ability to thoroughly clean these surgical instruments.
The Tempest is the solution to cleaning dirty surgical instruments.
In fact, the recent media blitz generated by the report on NBC’s Today Show by Nancy Snyderman was inspired in part by Jahan Azizi, Clinical Engineer for Risk Management at the University of Michigan Health System. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been concerned about hospital acquired infections from cannulated instruments and suction tips. Jahan Azizi performed a study to find out if any of the current washers were actually cleaning the cannulated instruments and suction tips well enough for sterilization.
The answer was an astounding NO!
Midbrook Medical created a fully automated system that would consistently clean these instruments to a new standard of clean and developed the solution – The Tempest.
The Tempest cleans the following:
Instruments that have been processed by the Tempest are sterilizer ready, effectively eliminating the need for:
The Tempest was designed for both cannulated and non-cannulated instruments and has an “ultrasonic only” cycle.
Take a look at the Tempest washer in action, (animated version).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3YNOlthDSY8
Different Models and Capacities:
The 4000 does 24 cannulated instruments and has 2 baskets for the cannulated instruments and 2 baskets for all the other instruments. It is a 4 basket unit.
The 2000 does 24 cannulated instruments and is a 2 basket system.
The 1000 does 12 cannulated instruments and is a 1 basket system.
Many hospitals are throwing away instruments prematurely that they cannot clean because of bio-burden build up/residual. The Tempest does not allow bio-burden build up, thereby extending the life of these instruments. This can save hospitals thousands of dollars in new instrument replacement cost.
If common homeowners can own an automated cleaning system, (a dishwasher), why shouldn’t every CS department have one that can clean more effectively than any human can? CS workers continue to be an integral part of the department and monitor the equipment with dramatically improved results. Midbrook believes the hard working individuals in this most important department need an extra hand, an important addition to their ‘Tool Box’.
We wouldn’t accept the cost and inconvenience of throwing away our dishes. Why should we have to replace our costly medical devices when an advanced washing system can repurpose them to a safe state of clean?
Unclean surgical instruments bring serious consequences in healthcare costs, transmission of infection and human tragedy. Lets all come to the new standard of clean that the Tempest can deliver and put a stop to more heartbreaking postings about unnecessary adverse events.
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A New Standard of Clean 