For Immediate Release
97 Percent of Operating Room Nurses Surveyed Agree, RF Detect Will Enhance Patient Safety
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 —
Mundelein, Ill - Medline Industries Inc., the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies announced today that 97 percent of operating room nurses surveyed agree that Medline's new RF Detect system will significantly enhance patient safety.
RF-Detect is a patented surgical disposable detection system for surgical gauze, towels and sponges. A sterile radio frequency chip, (the size of a grain of rice) is embedded in the surgical disposables. With the RF Detect system, a patented Blair-Port wand is waved over the patient accurately alerting the user when an RF-tagged surgical disposable remains in the patient before surgical closing procedures.
"As an OR nurse for more than 20 years, I think this product will revolutionize how we do counting and will provide an incredible patient safety benefit to hospitals nationwide," said Alecia Cooper, RN, CNOR. "Using the system is easy and will help ensure that when the counts are recorded as correct, that they truly are correct. Because sadly we know studies show that in 80 percent of retained objects cases, the counts were recorded as correct. The fact that the system is affordable means that it also offers substantial cost savings potential."
Retained surgical sponges are one of the leading safety concerns in operating rooms across the country. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, retained surgical sponges occur at an estimated rate of 1 of every 1000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal operations. This type of incident can lead to serious complications including infection, the need for re-operation and even death.
The survey of 1,750 perioperative nurses was taken at the Association for Perioperative Nurses (AORN) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Thousands of nurses visited Medline's demonstration of how accurate and how simple this breakthrough technology is to use.
Developed by New York thoracic surgeon, Jeffrey Port, M.D. and William Blair at RF Surgical, the system will be exclusively distributed by Medline, the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies.
About Medline
Medline, the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare products, manufactures and distributes more than 100,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, home care dealers and agencies and other markets. Headquartered in Mundelein, IL, Medline has more than 800 dedicated sales representatives nationwide to support its broad product line and cost management services.
Over the past five years, Medline has been the fastest growing distributor of medical and surgical supplies in the U.S., serving as the primary distributor to over 250 major hospitals and health care systems. As a leading distributor, Medline offers a comprehensive array of consulting and management services encompassing the supply chain and logistics, utilization and standardization, business tools and enhanced reporting capabilities, and on-staff clinicians.
Medline has a growing network of 34 distribution centers around the country, as well as an expanding, dedicated transportation fleet with over 160 vehicles in a variety of sizes to fit customers' specific delivery needs. The fleet is equipped with the latest navigation devices for enhanced order tracking and communication.