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INS Meeting Will Highlight Major Study
|  Promising research on the effectiveness of a disinfection cap, improving disinfection of needleless connectors for minimizing contamination, will be presented this month at the 2011 annual meeting of the Infusion Nurses Society (INS). The disinfection cap used in the research was SwabCap.
The research, conducted in a four-hospital system, compared the effectiveness of the cap to the customary manual disinfection method. Early results of the prospective, peer-reviewed clinical trial demonstrated that SwabCap® improved disinfection and allowed for reduced central-line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates by more than 79%.
The clinical study was conducted at NorthShore University HealthSystem (Evanston, IL).
 In a second set of results, researchers measured contamination of the intraluminal space of patients' PICC lines after each disinfection approach was used. There was a nearly 53% reduction in lumen colonization when disinfection was performed using SwabCap. Those samples that were contaminated had 75% fewer colony-forming units counted during the SwabCap phase.
The presenter at INS will be Marc-Oliver Wright, MT(ASCP), MS, CIC, lead author of the research abstract and the director of infection control at NorthShore University HealthSystem. Wright's presentation will take place:
- 10:10 to 11:00 AM session
- Exhibitor Theater
- Tuesday, May 24
Space is limited for this talk. To attend, please check the Excelsior Medical exhibit area (Booths 206 and 208) at INS on Monday, May 23. |
| Study Shows Efficacy for Home Care Patients |  A poster presented at the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) annual conference showed that a substantial reduction in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) among home-care patients receiving infusion therapy was achieved when the improved disinfection of SwabCap was utilized. For those patients who used SwabCap to improve disinfection of their needleless connectors according to the recommended protocol, CLABSIs were completely eliminated.
A branch of Coram Specialty Infusion Services (CORAM) conducted the trial. CORAM is a leading national company that delivers infusion therapy in home care settings. The single-site study was conducted to test whether a disinfection cap could improve antisepsis when used as a supplement to manual disinfection of IV connectors. SwabCap, the device tested, was provided to all parenteral nutrition and multi-lumen central venous access device (CVAD) patients.
Notably, the patients who participated in the trial are considered to have potentially elevated risk for CLABSIs, because:
- They often have compromised immune systems and multiple other serious health issues.
- Their catheters often require long dwell times, which increase the likelihood that an infection will develop.
- About half of parenteral nutrition patients have multi-lumen CVADs, which provide additional openings where bacteria can enter.
Co-authors Michelle Pratt, RN and Melissa Leone, RN, BSN of CORAM presented the poster at the conference, which took place Jan. 29-Feb.1 in Vancouver, B.C. |
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HHS 'Partnership for Patients' Project:
How SwabCap Could Help
|  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced that HHS will invest up to $1 billion in reforms aimed at improving patient safety over the next three years. The project, a public-private partnership called the Partnership for Patients, will target all forms of harm to patients. It will begin, however, by asking hospitals to focus on nine categories of medical errors and complications.
One of those categories is central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), which are fatal in 12% to 25% of cases, HHS notes.
There is good reason to think that SwabCap, a product that improves the disinfection of needleless connectors could help the partnership meet or exceed its CLABSI goal. For more information click here.
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| Quick Links |
Association for Vascular Access
Infection Control Today AVA Webinar Infusion Nurses Society __________________________ See SwabCap at the
upcoming INS annual meeting.
Booths #206 and 208. |
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SwabFlush™, the all-in-one combination of Excelsior Medical's SwabCap® and ZR™ pre-filled flush syringe, has received FDA 510(k) clearance. SwabFlush is the only IV catheter flush syringe that provides a disinfection cap for needleless IV connectors, built into the plunger of the syringe.