Cutting Edge Companies - ICU Medical

by Heidi H. Vanni

Walk into any hospital in the United States and look around you. In most cases, you will witness a bustling operation bordering on chaos. In this frenetic environment, the potential for time-pressed nurses and doctors to commit a medical error is high. Companies offering products that reduce medical errors and improve patient safety enhance the quality of the entire healthcare system. ICU Medical, Inc.  makes a needleless intravenous (IV) device that protects healthcare workers from exposure to infectious disease through accidental needle sticks and patients from catheter-related bloodstream infections.

Headquartered in San Clemente, California, ICU Medical is a leader in the development, manufacture, and sale of proprietary disposable medical connection devices and custom IV systems. These products are used in vascular (meaning blood vessel) therapy applications. ICU Medical’s flagship product, CLAVE®, is an innovative, one-piece needleless IV connection device. The CLAVE consists of a silicone compression seal that permits repeated sterile connections and disconnections without replacement.

The federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, enacted in 2000, requires the use of needle-safe systems to reduce the risk of injury to employees from needlesticks. Despite this legislation, the incidence of accidental needlesticks remains alarmingly high. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health estimates accidental needlesticks in hospitals occur approximately 600,000 times per year. In light of this, hospitals have embraced needlefree products whenever possible. The CLAVE system is viewed as the best IV connector in the market and is the number-one needle-free connector sold worldwide.

Hospital-acquired infection stems from a number of causes, one of which is bacteria getting into a vascular catheter. This condition, known as catheter related bloodstream infection (CRBSI), has a high rate of patient morbidity and mortality. It is also costly to treat–averaging $60,000 per case. As part of its effort to reduce hospital-acquired infections and to improve patient care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will discontinue payment for CRBSI beginning in 2009. ICU Medical’s CLAVE technology is designed as a microbiologically closed system to prevent bacterial contamination of vascular catheters; thus, ICU Medical stands to benefit from this change in reimbursement as hospitals prioritize routines and devices that minimize hospital-acquired infection.

ICU Medical’s CLAVE systems offer superior infection control benefits for the patient and provide a combination of safety, ease of use, reliability, and cost effectiveness for healthcare workers.