Pune, December 27, 2016: Pune is among the first cities to have adopted a safer infusion therapy system for patients to avoid any infections acquired in hospitals, especially in ICUs & CCU’s.
Dr. Prachee Sathe, Director, Intensive care Unit at Ruby Hall clinic, Pune , says that “ The issue of patient safety has been a major concern among the medical community. One of the significant contributors to medical mishaps is considered to be hospital-acquired infections. Many reports suggest that preventable medical errors have put a lot of focus on patient safety mechanisms especially when the patient is admitted in the hospital.”
Hospital acquired infections are very common especially in India where hospitals may not always have a very stringent hygiene standard and quality checks in place. In recent times there have been cases reported from various hospitals wherein the patient developed infections acquired from the hospital due to compromised hygiene conditions or usage of low grade medical products/ consumables.
Patients going through invasive procedures and surgeries are more prone to such infections. Risk of HAI during infusion therapy is a grave concern in present times, including catheter associated infections which are common in hospitals due to various reasons.
There are mainly the plastic or glass bottles used for infusion therapy. The normal practice which the nurses have to follow with these bottles is they need to prick a needle into the plastic bottle or open the air in-let of the IV sets with Glass bottles for the fluid to flow into the patient’s body. This may lead to infection from the micro-organisms that enter into the bottle & may cause severe infection to the patients.
Dr Sathe added that “To prevent this type of infections from the infected air going inside the bottle, some medical institutions & hospitals have started to use the new state of the art German technology for IV solutions. These new IV containers are very advanced which does not require any needle prick for collapsibility that ensures high patient safety.”
Not only the medical staff but also patient and their families should be conscious about usage of closed system I.V fluid containers with no interference of external air i.e. no pricking needle on the IV bottle during infusion. The new advanced products offer higher standards of Safety to patient & also convenience in application of all IV procedures from infusion preparation to drug admixing to drug delivery.
No venting is necessary with this close Infusion system which collapses completely when emptying. Interestingly there is no need of needles to allow entry of air, all this keeps the patient least prone to any external infection.
International bodies like CDC & NIOSH also recommend risk free drug admixture which reduces potential microbiological contamination. Accurate fluid delivery to the patient is also very important. The latest technology design of Closed Infusion System should facilitate dosage accuracy & should also be compatible with all pharmaceutical drugs.
With rate of HAI scaling in the hospitals in India, it is important that patients stay well informed and aware to insist upon a Closed Infusion System only. While medical technologies are ever advancing and use of extremely advanced and high end surgical implants and other live saving devices and drugs are in common use in India, it’s completely logical to spend on these low cost basic and primary peripheral medical products that can ensure higher standards of patient safety.
