UJIFILM SonoSite Inc., the world leader and pioneering specialist in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound, announced the availability of a new patient-safety program designed to help hospitals reduce complications during CVC insertion. The SonoSite Solution for Safer Central Venous Catheter Insertion includes a guidebook and resource center that provides healthcare professionals with practice guidelines, procedure protocols, key metrics for benchmark success, educational videos and more. Most importantly, a team of Solutions Advisors support the program and help clinicians and administrators at participating institutions navigate through the wealth of available information.
“Central Venous Catheter (CVC) insertion can be risky. Both mechanical complications, such as a pneumothorax, or a Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI) can occur during the procedure,” said Diku Mandavia, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc. “An iatrogenic pneumothorax is deemed a high cost and preventable event at many hospitals and healthcare systems and, as of October 2012, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not compensate hospitals for additional costs incurred from this complication.”
“Fortunately, by conscientiously following evidenced-based procedures for increasing patient safety and by using point-of-care ultrasound for guidance during CVC placement, both of these complications can be reduced and even eliminated. We’ve had the opportunity to pilot this program at hospitals around the US. Several of these institutions were able to achieve zero mechanical complication rates during CVC insertion. One participating institution even improved its Leapfrog Group score.”
The SonoSite Solution is designed to be a collaboration between SonoSite and the healthcare provider. The objective is to provide a ready-made, but highly modifiable and scalable, clinical pathway to reduce CVC insertion complication. The program is rooted in quality-improvement science and includes the support of Solutions Advisors who can help guide the improvement cycle. In the guidebook, and through the resource center, SonoSite provides tools and appropriate evidence in a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle format. The result is a self-guided, quality-improvement project that will help healthcare facilities eliminate complications from CVC insertions throughout their practice environment.
SonoSite, a member of the non-profit National Patient Safety Foundation’s (NPSF) Patient Safety Coalition, was pleased to invite NPSF to review this material through the lens of patient safety. “We applaud SonoSite’s focus on patient safety and commitment to care quality,” said NPSF president Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS. “This program was designed to help hospitals improve patient safety, and we welcomed the opportunity to review the materials and offer our recommendations to incorporate the patient safety perspective in this resource.”
SonoSite will be participating at the 16th annual NPSF Patient Safety Congress May 14 – 16, 2014, at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, SonoSite representatives will be available at booth #215. For more information about SonoSite Solutions please visit: www.sonosite.com/solutions .
About FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc.
FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc. is the innovator and world leader in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound, and an industry leader in ultra high-frequency micro-ultrasound technology. Headquartered near Seattle, the company is represented by 26 subsidiaries and a global distribution network in over 100 countries. SonoSite’s portable, compact systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high-performance ultrasound to the point of patient care. For more information, go to: www.sonosite.com.
FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including electronic imaging, digital printing equipment, medical systems, life sciences, graphic arts, flat panel display materials, and office products, based on a vast portfolio of digital, optical, fine chemical and thin film coating technologies. The company was among the top 10 companies around the world granted U.S. patents in 2012, and in the year ended March 31, 2013, had global revenues of $26.7 billion*. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmholdings.com.