The Case for Safer:

Automatic and semi-automatic activation have been shown to be more effective in reducing healthcare worker needlestick injuries than manually activated devices. Furthermore, since the syringe cannot be reused after normal use, the potential for accidental reuse is eliminated and patient safety is also enhanced. Inactivated safety devices are a common occurrence.

Although Exposure Control Plans must be reviewed and updated annually to reflect changes in technology, there has been very little new safety syringe technology commercially available for consideration since the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000.


Passive Safety.  Every needle, Every time.

MedPro safety devices are designed to address three compelling, yet unfulfilled, needs: clinician safety, patient safety, and community safety.

The devastating, life changing, effects of accidental needlestick injuries (NSI’s) to healthcare workers has been well documented since the HIV pandemic emerged in the 1980’s. In 2000, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act required employers to identify, evaluate, and implement safer medical devices.  Although there has been widespread adoption of “safety” devices, the commercial alternatives have failed to eliminate NSI’s.  

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for clearing medical devices for marketing in the US. It recommends safer needle devices with a fixed safety feature that: “provides a barrier between the hands and the needle after use; the safety feature should allow or require the worker's hands to remain behind the needle at all times.”  However, most of the safety syringes currently being used are either shielded needle or sliding shield concepts that require the user to move their hand toward the potentially contaminated exposed needle in order to activate the safety feature.

These types of designs have NSI rates 50-90x devices with an automated safety feature.  

LINKS:
OSHA: www.osha.gov
International Healthcare Worker Safety Center: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/epinet//
Premier Safety Institute: http://www.premierinc.com/quality-safety/tools-services/safety/index.jsp

Passive Safety.  Every needle, Every time.

MedPro safety devices are designed to address three compelling, yet unfulfilled, needs: clinician safety, patient safety, and community safety.

“In the last 10 years, across the United States, reuse of syringes and misuse of medication vials has resulted in the need to alert more than 100,000 patients to seek testing for bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV.”
     Dr. Joseph Perz, DrPH, MA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Products which can be reused are reused, with devastating repercussions for patients and providers. Not only much every potentially exposed patient be notified and tested, but the provider is fully responsible for any treatment expense. Nosocomial infections are considered non-reimbursable “never events” by CMS.

A 2010 survey of US clinicians found a significant percentage of respondents admitting to injection practices deemed to be unsafe. And a audit of sharps containers at three Canadian hospitals found that 13% of the syringes (a brand featuring “automated retraction”) had not been activated.

Once a clinician uses a MedPro device, the safety feature deploys during normal use and it cannot be reused on another patient.



LINKS:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/injectionsafety/
Premier Safety Institute: http://www.premierinc.com/quality-safety/tools-services/safety/index.jsp
The One and Only Campaign: http://www.oneandonlycampaign.org/

Passive Safety.  Every needle, Every time.

MedPro safety devices are designed to address three compelling, yet unfulfilled, needs: clinician safety, patient safety, and community safety.

It is estimated that over 3 billion injections are administered at home or outside of regulated healthcare facilities. Usage is not limited to people with diabetes or allergies, as an increasing number of drugs are prescribed for self-injection.  Historically, the EPA recommended that patients secure their used needles in a coffee can or similar hard container to minimize injury to municipal waste employees; however, needles continue to surface at recycling centers and landfills. Several states now regulate home-generated sharps waste and the US Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution calling for producer and consumer responsibility for the cost of managing consumer product waste.

Approved disposal options such as mail-back services are expensive, significantly more than the cost of the syringes themselves. A few pharmaceutical companies provide mail-back to their patients, typically only for high end biologics, and some only in states that legislate proper disposal.

Once a patient uses a MedPro device, the safety feature deploys during normal use and the needle is self-contained, virtually eliminating downstream injury risk.



LINKS:
EPA: http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/medical/med-govt.pdf
Coalition for Safe Community Needle Disposal: http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/