For Immediate Release
Medline Unveils Revolutionary Product Packaging That Makes Wound Care Safer
PACKAGING DESIGN BECOMES A 2-MINUTE COURSE™ IN WOUND CARE
Thursday, June 07, 2007 —
Mundelein, Ill. - It was a typical day for Andrea McIntosh, a wound care nurse at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, Ill. She started her shift with a pile of phone messages from recently discharged patients who had questions about their wound care dressings – how to apply, when to change and a lot of queries beginning with "I must be doing something wrong..."
"A patient called because he did not think that his dressing was 'right' – well, it wasn't. He was removing the dressing's paper backing and throwing away the dressing – applying this backing to his wound," said McIntosh. "When patients are discharged from the acute care facility, they receive a lot of information in a little amount of time. We have a huge focus on discharge planning, giving the patients handouts and pamphlets, but right now the instructions are not consistent."
Medline, the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, today launched a revolutionary new educational packaging system for wound care. The innovative packaging design is an improved delivery and communication system to help healthcare professionals better understand and more easily deliver wound care at the patient's bedside.
Medline's President of Marketing, Sue MacInnes, unveiled the new wound care packaging on Monday at a forum for homecare executives from across the country.
"This new package design eliminates confusion with clear, step-by-step information, making it hard for the healthcare professional or caregiver to do the wrong thing. The design actually creates a format that allows each package to serve as a 2-minute course on advanced wound care. It eliminates the clutter and highlights critical information," said MacInnes.
Features of Medline's educational packaging
The new packaging displays all of the information that the wound care professional needs on both the outer box and inner pouch.
- Redesigned outer box
The design is based on a hierarchy of information. The package includes:
Product name
Category – A more detailed breakdown of the product
Subtitle – A general definition of the product
Key information – Clarifies appropriate use
Product photo – A clear-as-day picture of the dressing
Basic information – Brief technical detailing of the product's attributes (size, number, etc.)
Color coding – Each "family" of wound care products is color coded with a horizontal bar across the top so the healthcare professional can identify the category of wound dressing. This unique color-bar system will be incorporated into the design of the product packaging for Medline's entire line of advanced wound care dressings. - Innovative inner pouch
The inner pouch contains all of the same information that is listed on the outer box, plus the following:
Sticker – A crack-and-peel sticker (patent pending) for dressing change and charting
Booklet – A show-and-tell pamphlet that is a 2-minute course on wound care
Making it harder to do harm
Patient safety is one of the nation's most pressing healthcare challenges. Based on data collected over several years from multiple partner institutions, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) estimates that nearly 15 million instances of medical harm occur in the United States each year – a rate of more than 40,000 per day. This is a burden larger than most patients and professionals, and even some healthcare researchers, realize.
"This introduction allows us the opportunity to influence important change in the healthcare industry," said Andy Mills, president of Medline. "This packaging is more than a nice, new look. It helps educate clinicians and patients, and helps prevent costly mistakes. We hope this work creates a new standard for patient care."
The design story
To create this packaging, Medline teamed up with Deborah Adler, a senior designer at the design firm Milton Glaser Inc. in New York City and the inspiration behind Target's ClearRxSM system. Adler met with Medline product managers, advanced wound care specialists and nurses to learn about traditional wound care packaging, problems with current designs and what information could help healthcare professionals at the bedside.
Adler, together with Milton Glaser, listened to clinician feedback and created an innovative and functional design that will serve as a much-needed bedside tool for the wound care professional.
"We wanted this wound care packaging to be less confusing and more comprehensive," said Glaser.
"Ultimately, we want to provide greater patient safety and tremendous savings to the healthcare industry. So, we immersed ourselves in the world of wound care. We looked at how wound care dressings were used from every angle: how they were stored, how clinicians applied them in healthcare facilities, how patients used them at home. We took all this information and developed a packaging system that makes using the dressings easier and improves the level of care," said Adler.
Traditional wound care packaging often consists of an outer box and inner package. For many products, the indications and directions for application are printed only on the package insert, which is regularly thrown away. The inner pouch with wound dressing usually contains limited information. This can leave the user guessing as to what the dressing looks like, its indications and how to apply. This creates a lot of waste (time and product) and a threat to patient safety.
"The wound care nurse is often the clinician who directs wound care, but more than 70 percent of the time, it's the bedside nurse who applies the dressings in our hospital system. If the instructions are not clear and readily available, there will be issues with application and removal of a dressing, when to change the dressing and what to expect," said Amie Kirkwood, BSN, RN, CWOCN.
Availability
Medline introduces this new packaging with its SilvaSorb® family of products, which combines targeted, ionic silver antimicrobial protection with advanced fluid management. The products are available exclusively through Medline sales representatives and at medline.com (www.medline.com). For more information on Medline products, visit the Web site or call 1-800-MEDLINE.
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.